Using the Twitter hashtag #AskUSA, the State Department continued its digital media outreach Wednesday with a Q & A conducted entirely on Twitter in 10 languages.

Pope Benedict XVI has tweeted for the first time, announcing the launch of a Vatican news information portal. Benedict’s tweet on Tuesday read: “Dear Friends, I just launched News.va Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI”.

On June 29, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale will participate in the State Department’s first global “Twitter Q & A.” Using the hashtag #AskUSA, participants from around the world can simultaneously submit questions and share ideas with Under Secretary McHale about strengthening ties and increasing exchanges between the United States and other countries.

If Facebook were a country, its membership would make it the third most populous in the world. As its “population” continues to grow, the social network finds itself adapting to, and navigating within, a global sphere in which the importance of public diplomacy has also grown.

The State Department's public diplomacy position "isn't about marketing," according to its current occupant, former Discovery Communications CEO Judith McHale, as much as conversations and connections, often enabled by digital and social media.

Israelis studiously track public opinion in the United States and Europe, and Israel's military has taken to using YouTube, Twitter and bloggers to disseminate real-time updates around the world, sometimes in the middle of battle.

The comprehensive gag on Ai, who is not allowed to post anything on Twitter or accept interviews for a year, raises questions about the Chinese government's repeated claims that his was purely an economic case.

Social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Diggit, live video, texting, bloggers, websites, My Space, and other outlets, now focus on the power of mass protests to rally together to topple governments and spread messages to fellow countrymen, and ultimately tell their story to the rest of the world.