The Tourism Ministry will spend RM1.8mil on social media branding to woo young tourists. Its Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said the move was part of the ministry’s transformation programme and would mark the first time that social media was used as a branding tool.

The rapid political and social changes sweeping the region has transformed the media here... Egypt’s Minister of Culture Emad Abu Ghazi said in his keynote address: “Today’s new media has helped bring about social changes, acting as a tool in the hands of the youth.”

Last year, the Public Diplomacy division of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) began an experiment....[W]e see social media not just as a tool for disseminating information; it is also valuable for getting feedback, listening, engaging with people, so that a relationship is built.

Castoff American t-shirts, which have flooded African markets for years, are starting to trickle back to the United States as part of a non-profit initiative spearheaded by two young American social entrepreneurs. This supports local markets in places like Kenya while supporting non-profits.

After a page calling for a mass march by Palestinians on the borders of Israel on May 15 was taken offline by Facebook, mirror sites with more than 3.5 million followers sprung up... Will the so-called "Facebook Intifada" tip the Middle East into further turmoil?

In Egypt and Tunisia, Facebook helped foment democratic uprising. But on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, US soldiers are now, with increasing frequency, turning to social media for an equally pressing purpose: To save their lives.

Faith-based Engagement as a Tool for Public Diplomacy