Every government bureaucracy on the face of the Earth experiences turf wars, morale issues, infighting and red tape. Then there's the State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs. Best known as the bureau that blew $630,000 on Facebook "likes," IIP finds itself at a crossroads, sources tell The Cable, as it prepares to announce a new coordinator next month.

There's a simple reason for this, say the researchers. An increased availability in affordable smart devices in the near future will contribute to the increase in data traffic in regions where data is still a costly commodity. Some other tidbits from the research show that low literacy rates in Africa have resulted in a low messaging volume across Africa, but this number is increasing and will become the only region to see consistent service revenue growth over the next five years.

According to a new report released by the United Nations, the number of mobile-cellular subscriptions will reach a projected 6.8 billion by the end of 2013. That means that in only 6 months, there will be nearly as many mobile phone subscriptions as there are people in the world (at present the global population is just over 7 billion).

More and more governments are now focusing on the potential of tablets, smartphones, and portable devices in the pursuit of foreign policy goals and objectives. Quite simply, mobile technologies are growing fast and not only in North America and Europe, but in the most rural areas of the globe and in regions where human rights and civil liberties are far from being fully enjoyed by all citizens.

Diplomacy is evolving, rapidly adapting to a world in which real time communication is faster than ever and the “rules of engagement” are not limited only to foreign policy and military strategy, but also to social media and public diplomacy. It is a different kind of engagement, a veritable framework to provide the conditions necessary for ambassadors and diplomats to open and nurture a true dialogue with their publics, both at home and abroad.

The term “engagement” is a floating signifier; its meaning is typically embedded in the context of the articulation – who is saying it, in what venue, to serve a particular argument claim, etc. It’s a form of jargon that informs practice, and helps to rationalize acts of public diplomacy into the larger strategic language for U.S. diplomacy.