Although democracy retains its allure, the Arab uprisings that began last year were about democracy primarily as simply a means to an end.

The real goal of those who took to the streets was to grasp a better future for themselves and their families. Having a job, getting enough to eat, being assured that children could receive decent education and medical care – these constitute the substance of everyday life that so many in the Arab world had long been denied and were determined to claim.

"Clash of civilizations is the main pivot of the US public diplomacy," Mehman-Parast said, addressing a number of students and researchers in Tehran on Sunday. "The American public diplomacy impairs the other side's reputation to attain its goals," he said, and added that the United States' Islamophobia and Iranophobia projects are meant to serve the same goal.

But the rapid-fire pace of social media helped to quickly undercut the official line on what had happened just hours after the agreement was announced, spurring journalists worldwide to follow up. Experts said it was the first time that the digital world has had such a strong sway. In the past, "it might have taken days or months. It wouldn't have taken minutes," said Nicholas Cull, a USC professor of public diplomacy.

These exchanges can be not only the warmest and most meaningful, but also most consequential and enduring form of our diplomacy. They are absolutely critical to our relationship, because while we in government are working at the highest levels to strengthen communication...

Never.no announced that its Interactivity Suite (IS) is being used to incorporate social media into programming for Voice of America (VOA), the multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government...— a critical component of VOA's strategy of audience engagement

During the Cold War, cultural diplomacy was a priority of U.S. foreign policy as a means of cultivating relationships with nations around the world through positive exchange. Since that time, there has been a marked decline in cultural diplomacy.

Should one be surprised to hear the Ambassador of the United States telling an audience of students and influential Abu Dhabi elite that his country needed to raise its game and change their narrative in the region?...he remarked that people in the Gulf thought of the USA in military terms.

Within this transatlantic culture, soft power was offered as a complement to hard power – another means to the same end of getting our way in the world, albeit slower. Instead of armies, we actively shipped artists, products, legal systems, video games...