On Thursday, March 1, 2012, the U.S. Department of State will host its first-ever Spanish-language Twitter Briefing. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Mike Hammer will take questions submitted to the Department’s official Spanish-language Twitter feed @USAenEspanol.

While the latest aircraft carrier movements and military maneuvers here are chronicled closely in U.S. media, significant public diplomacy initiatives go largely unreported. This past week provided a prime example: For his first-ever visit, Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong led a 500-person delegation including party officials, business leaders and Chinese celebrities.

TAIPEI --- While the latest aircraft carrier movements and military maneuvers here are chronicled closely in U.S. media, significant public diplomacy initiatives go largely unreported. This past week provided a prime example:

Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong’s week-long visit to Taipei has been front-page news in this region, in newspapers from Korea to Singapore. For his first-ever visit, the mayor led a 500-person delegation – yes, five hundred people – including party officials, business leaders and Chinese celebrities.

The British Museum’s “Hajj: Journey to the heart of Islam“ is the first major exhibition ever to focus on the Hajj. Aiming to draw crowds both Muslim and non-Muslim, the exhibition features objects from a number of different countries, as well as newly commissioned contemporary art works, to highlight the importance and relevance of the ancient tradition throughout history.

New technologies are commonly resisted by foreign ministries but it is now ten years since State established its Office of eDiplomacy. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) needs ediplomacy if it is going to continue to coordinate policy across an increasingly internationalised bureaucracy.

Iranians are heralding the country’s first Oscar win as the best public diplomacy for the Islamic Republic in many years. “Cinema,” the ex-president wrote to Farhadi in a public letter, “helps humanity to overcome aggression [and to be] able to bring hearts closer to each other.”

While people are rightly pointing to the power of social media to bring people across societies together, exchanges still represent a key component of public diplomacy. Exchanges offer an in-depth experience with a foreign country, its culture, its systems, and most importantly, its people.