President Obama’s conception of soft power has curiously lacked the very quality that has made it most efficacious in the past—the values dimension. His governance has virtually ignored the values dimension of soft power, which goes beyond the tradecraft of diplomacy and multilateral consultation to aggressively assert the ideals of freedom in practical initiatives.

Beginning with the Twitter Race to 1 million followers...the malaria fight has consistently broken new ground in the use of social media. The UN created a powerful group of social media advocates called the Social Media Envoys, each of whom take an action on Twitter each month. And we're seeing great promise using communications technologies in malaria endemic countries too.

The Occupy Wall Street movement continues to grow and has now spread across the world, motivating thousands to voice their anger at financial and social inequality, and in some places merging with existing anti-government protests. On Saturday, a global "Day of Rage" was observed, and demonstrations took place in more than 80 countries around the world.

The Internet has become an ambassador for American soft power abroad through brands like Apple and Google, but policymakers need to appreciate that it is just a medium and not a panacea for competitiveness in the long term. The challenge for the United States is to think anew about products and their distinctiveness.

In its never-ending efforts to be hip, the U.S. State Department last week launched a new Web site called “Discover Diplomacy.” It has video clips, it has audio tracks, it has interactive maps and images—it has it all. Possibly due to the difficulty of getting foreigners to listen these days...the State Department has decided to reach out to its domestic constituency.

In addition to public diplomacy, the U.S. government should continue to support the development of software that may make it easier for citizens of countries with repressive regimes to access the Internet without fear of surveillance.

The soft power of the Islamic revolution of Iran has relocated the war fronts between the West and Islam from Iran and the Islamic bloc to the European borders and the heart of capitalism, i.e. Wall Street, Fars News Agency quoted Samad Marashi as saying on Sunday.

More often than not, it is a perception that knowledge of Chinese will be a vital asset in tomorrow’s job market that is driving demand, he says.