The most significant management shake-up in Apple Inc's recent history, including this week's forced departure of the technology company's top mobile software and retail executives, will do little to undercut the "soft power" of iconic American companies in Southeast Asia.

During last week’s presidential debate on foreign policy, Republican nominee Mitt Romney missed an opportunity to criticize one aspect of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy that has gone largely unnoticed: the shift away from U.S. international radio broadcasting in favor of more high-tech media outlets.

The State Department said Wednesday it is reviewing a US Embassy's use of a wildly popular Vietnamese website laden with suspected pirated music and Hollywood movies to promote American values, including respect for intellectual property rights.

Washington is a vocal proponent of intellectual property rights in Vietnam as it is around the world, and a site like Zing would be shut down in the United States. But with space with for public diplomacy limited in Communist Vietnam, the American embassy uses its "Zingme" account to reach out to young people in Vietnam as it seeks to build closer ties with its former enemy.

With more constraints on government resources and increasing public demand for information, "the ability to mobilize human and informational resources efficiently will only increase in importance," he adds. Knowledge management was the first use of eDiplomacy at the department, writes Hanson.

“Back in the day, a corporation stung by a newspaper story might try to buy a full-page ad in the paper. But that route was controlled by the very organization they were battling. Targeting PR ad dollars toward social media is another sign it isn’t just stories that can spread virally. It is also the conversations around those stories, pro or con.”

The government is going ahead with plans for a state-owned and controlled internet radio station which will be available around the world, and is looking for radio experts to set it up and run it – on government instruction.

The targeted jamming cut off radio and television content by broadcasters including the BBC, France 24, Deutsche Welle and the Voice of America. European satellite operator Eutelsat reports that the “deliberate and intermittent interference,” originated from Syria and Iran.