In China, a large number of government departments and officials have stepped into the online world through weibo, the most popular and biggest micro blog service in China. But most of them are still more show than tell, while some have just followed the new media trend blindly without interacting with netizens.

...international news coverage plays an important role in establishing national soft power and said the press should take full advantage of the Internet and other forms of new media in their international news reporting. He said those technologies offer a fast means of communication and the ability to cover the news widely.

WASHINGTON --- Voice of America rolled out a series of new programs at a briefing here this morning, highlighting “OMG!”, a new youth-oriented program aimed at China, where, according to its host, it is sometimes called “OMG: Oh My Lady Gaga.”

For China, the quest to develop advanced computing centers is not simply a matter of national pride. It is an attempt to lay the groundwork for innovative Chinese companies and to reshape the technological landscape by doing something more than assembling the world’s desktop PCs.

Voice of America’s Burmese Service is reporting a sharp increase in direct visits to its popular webpage since Burma’s government lifted firewall restrictions in September. Burmese Service Chief Than Lwin Htun says visits to VOA Burmese language social media sites, including Youtube and Twitter, have also increased.

Last week, People’s Daily ran a commentary that called for the state to build up publishing houses into companies with international brands so their books can help spread “socialist core values.” And some officials ache for a mainland Chinese writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

An interesting blog post from the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy discusses Creative Learning, an organization that encourages Americans to become “unofficial Ambassadors” to different Islamic nations. Another blog...demonstrates the impact social media can have on public diplomacy and how the use of the internet makes public diplomacy very effective in its distribution.

CPD Blog Manager: Naweed Lemar