How Social Media Helps the U.S. Engage the World Today’s international perception of the U.S. varies widely, and is subject to a number of forces,including world events, media coverage, changes in policy or presidential administrations. Inresponse, America’s public relations branch, the U.S. State Department, has the task of engaging indialogues around the world about all the controversial topics that are being discussed.

In this regard, social media has proven to be an extremely valuable tool. The State Department hasmade impressive gains in turn conflict into conversation by utilizing social media. Cabinet officials,foreign dignitaries, and the embassies themselves are experimenting with different ways topositively inject America’s voice into the global chatter. Some of their experiments have paiddividends that few expected. For example, here's a look at some of these efforts: Social Media Can Bridge the "Last Three Feet" President Obama has garnered an enormous response after soliciting the country's opinion online,when he circumvented the White House press corps and used YouTube to answer questions this pastFebruary. The effort received over 11,000 responses. But when the president answered questions over the Internet from local residents during a recentoverseas trip, the numbers were staggering: Over 17,000 responses were received during a visit toGhana, and some 250,000 in South Africa. These numbers speak volumes about how the world canand will engage over the web with U.S. leaders. In addition to sheer publicity, Mr. Obama’s responses may also have had some positive impact onforeign attitudes. Bill May, the Director of the State Department’s Office of InnovativeEngagement, says social media is at the epicenter of online chatter in what he thinks is the “newversion of the last three feet.” May was invoking the late Edward R. Murrow’s famous public diplomacy strategy in which hewrote, “The real crucial link in the international exchange is the last three feet, which is bridged bypersonal contact, one person talking to another.” In the arena of public diplomacy, the reverberationof Mr. Obama’s message, coupled with follow-ups from America’s Embassies, can reach more ofthose international friends than ever before. For every serious news or political blog, however, there are likely twice as many others dedicated tothings of quite a different nature. When former president Bill Clinton pioneered a youth outreachstrategy and answered questions from MTV fans, it was the infamous “boxers or briefs” questionthat he had to face most often. For all practical purposes, entertainment is always much moreappealing.

Seizing on the social network bandwagon, the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia has seen theirFacebook fan growth increase from 36,000 to 120,000 in only one month. With just a singleFacebook post, the embassy will receive between 700 to 1,000 comments. This is especiallyastonishing considering that less than 10% of Indonesia's population even uses Facebook in the firstplace. The U.S. State Department has begun providing timely information on crises and policy via thesocial networks. When a coup was attempted in Madagascar, a rumor began circulating that thethreatened president was going to seek refuge in the U.S. Embassy. After refuting the rumors, theState Department used Twitter to tweet out the correct information. They immediately startedgetting retweets and people were saying ‘thanks for the correction,’" according to Daniel Schaub,Director of Digital Communications for the State Department. Within an hour, says Schaub, “thetraditional media had caught it.” Helping to put out the spreading fire of a rumor that might haveput the embassy and its staff at risk was immensely valuable by simply using the social media athand. There is no question that the era of one-way broadcasting is dying. With today’s mobile and socialtechnologies available, the U.S. now has an ear as well as a voice to listen and speak to everyonewith social media. It is an unprecedented opportunity, the KEY, to opening up dialogues with peopleand communities all around the world, one that would never have been possible without the adventof social media.