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The Public Diplomacy Blog is intended to stimulate dialog among scholars, researchers, practitioners and professionals from around the world in the public diplomacy sphere. The opinions represented here are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School.

THE IRONIES OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
MAY 20, 2012 - 6:14AM PST
Posted by R.S. Zaharna
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On Thursday, May 17, 2012 I attended the discussion on “Digital Diplomacy: A New Era of Advancing Policy” at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington and on Twitter at #digidiplomacy. Carnegie had already posted video and audio of the event by early afternoon. USC MPD alumnus Matthew Wallin blogged his assessment of the discussion shortly there after. Being the academic dinosaur that I am at heart, I came home typed up all my notes. Then, as an exercise to help me develop my social media skills, I compared my notes to the Twitter feed. My next step was to construct a theoretical framework around that comparison. Yes, I really am an academic. And, having had the luxury of further scholarly reflection, I was struck by several ironies. Some of the ironies are captured in the tweets. Irony #1: Social media -- the antithesis of diplomacy? Yesterday’s ambivalence about the use of social media was palatable. On the one hand, there was a sense of excitement. Martha Boudrea, of Fleishman-Hillard and co-sponsor of the event, opened by capturing the promise of what the buzz of new media is all about. StephanieDahle: Martha Boudreau: Social media is a broader way to practice statecraft & create relationships #DigiDiplomacy Boudrea shared some of the mind-numbing numbers on social media, but said its relevance to diplomacy goes beyond numbers. For Mexico’s Ambassor Arturo Sarukhan, social media was not just about relevancy, social media was a necessity. He shared his adaptation of an old Mexican saying to underscore his point. It used to be, “If you moved, you were not in the picture.” He up-dated that saying for Twitter: @colehutch: #digidiplomacy "if you don't tweet, you are not in the photograph." meaning if you aren't using social, you aren't relevant diplomatically On the one hand, there was excitement. Like the new toy on the block, all the kids are asking, what is it? Can I play with it too? Then, on the other hand, there was the wariness. Alert to the apprehension, or perhaps skepticism, the panelists seemed on the defensive from the get go. Alec Ross, the guru of social media @State and first of the panelist to speak, immediately introduced what became the mantra echoed among the discussants: “social media is a TOOL.” He emphasized that by saying he was a Medieval History major. He wasn’t interested in technology, but in advancing policy interests. Using social media was a tool for advancing policy interests. All the panelists repeated the mantra at least once or twice each time they spoke: “social media is a TOOL.” Nevertheless, the very first question from the audience was a not so much a question but a statement about the failings of social medial as a substitute for personal contact in diplomacy. Why the mantra of “social media as a tool” may fail to resonant or have difficulty taking hold with the diplomatic community may be because of the contrasting images of social media as a tool of…... FULL TEXT
 
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