Public diplomacy has always been an important tool in communicating a country’s policies, values, and culture. However, the means through which these goals could be achieved considerably changed in the last one hundred years, and politicians as well as scholars have had to face new challenges and adapt to a new media era.

On my first morning as Under Secretary, I wanted to reach out to our many friends and partners who extend, amplify and inform our public diplomacy.  You are valued stakeholders in the public diplomacy community and I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and share my vision for public diplomacy.

The Internet is eating up "Another View on Iran," a provocative photo essay by photographer Hossein Fatemi. The exposé gives a global audience the chance to peer into the country's more modern (or scandalous) sub-culture where men and women socialize together, drink alcohol and listen to rock music. The country bans these activities, but many citizens still participate in them. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? 

Among Venezuelans taking to the streets are student protesters who, in the past, have proven to be a powerful political force. Using Twitter as well as street demonstrations, the students offer a boost to a weak and disjointed opposition. Tens of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets of Caracas and other cities Wednesday in the biggest antigovernment protests yet during the 10-month term of President Nicolas Maduro. Pro-government demonstrators also turned out, sparking confrontations that reportedly left three people dead.

As a diplomat, I’m fascinated by the growing trend of Foreign Ministries using social media as part of their public diplomacy tool kit. According to @DigiDiplomats 77 Foreign Ministries now have official twitter accounts, and the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office has over 120 twitter channels and 120 Facebook pages. Tweeting Ambassadors, ‘liking’ Embassy Facebook statuses, and checking out Instagram accounts of a government minister’s visit to a distant country are increasingly the norm.

Former figure skater Irina Rodnina is now an MP from Vladimir Putin's United Russia party and claims that a racist photo of Barack Obama she tweeted last year was the fault of hackers.

Turks have hit back at a new law tightening control of the internet with more than half a million tweets on the hashtag "Internet Censorship in Turkey".

Journalists covering the Sochi Olympics have taken to Twitter to air complaints over the state of their hotel rooms. For the past week, some reporters have been tweeting images describing what they say are appalling conditions in the media hotels.