Since the Hajj exhibit began, the British Museum has been praised for fostering cultural diplomacy, acknowledging the role of Islam in British public life, and attracting new audiences to a cultural venue. In addition to tracing the history of the pilgrimage, the exhibit explains the purpose of the Hajj in Islam and the Muslim beliefs that inform the many rituals.

The Obama Administration stresses shared commonalities—diversity of populations, cultural vibrancy, innovative societies, and presumably similar political values. The Administration has placed strong emphasis on a potpourri of low-cost soft power initiatives, dialogues, and partnerships. It proposes to support these initiatives.

Sherman’s announcement is a huge ‘PR scoop’ for the US public diplomacy. The fact that she went public at an elite gathering of Indian strategic gurus underscores that Washington sought the optimal spin-off in the realm of US-India relationship, which has been lately somewhat under the weather.

Social media is an integral part of US diplomacy in China, said the US Ambassador to China Gary Locke on Friday during a townhall meeting with the employees of China's most popular search engine Baidu. He said that he was generally learning that Chinese citizens are "wanting more accountability, transparency, ethics in government."

In light of the "Kony 2012" saga -- the story of one valiant white hero who was ready to take down Central Africa's Lord's Resistance Army... until a mental breakdown of the naked variety brought about his tragic downfall -- more NGOs are contemplating the ethics of utilizing social and digital media to promote their causes.

The new Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy, Tara Sonenshine, and a bundle of other diplomatic nominees received the Senate stamp of approval. Sonenshine’s challenge will be to grapple with several substantive issues including the challenge from China.

“The slow pace of adaptation to e-diplomacy by many foreign ministries suggests there is a degree of uncertainty over what e-diplomacy is all about, what it can do and how pervasive its influence is going to be."

The event began with a short address by US ambassador who welcomed and informed the crowd about a cultural exchange programme between musicians of both countries. Thus far, Noori, Zeb and Haniya have travelled to the US to perform, while US artists are also expected to perform in Pakistan.