Ali Fisher on State Department Twitter-Diplomacy

Our colleague Ali Fisher has emerged as one of the top analysts of public diplomacy, including its pursuit through new technologies and media. Following our own engagement with the State Department's efforts to spread its message via Twitter, he has offered a critique, "To Tweet or Not to Tweet, What is the Question?" on his website Wandren PD:

If [Twitter] is just another means to deliver a message (even if it has more of a human voice than other methods), another way to ask for comment just to answer back with the same rebuttals that will also appear in other media, to take a centralised view and drive traffic to other sites or stories produced by the same organisation, it is a missed opportunity. But if that’s all you want if for, then it will do the job just fine.

Comments

[UJ]

This same debate went on when MySpace got big, then Facebook, then Twitter. First us cool kids join and then when it goes mainstream we all get pissy and resent Gov'ts, corporations and other large institutions who then try to join us.

No matter what they do, if ComastCares or DipNote personally came to your house and blew you, it will never be good enough for us super awesome ultra elite social media users.

How about a suggestion for how they can use Twitter correctly (read: up to your personal standards)? "You're doing it wrong" is just complaining.

Sincerely,
Member of the "Twitter Avalanche"

[Scott Lucas]

I agree with you, UJ, but I think my concern goes beyond effective use of Twitter. It's that no amount of effective Twittering can make up for a bad policy. Indeed, I would say that it's even more worrying when those pursuing a bad policy, e.g., the Israeli public diplomats, are skilled in using social media.

[UJ]

But in that case, isn't targeting their use of Twitter like the LEAST effective way of changing their policy? If the problem is official State Dept policy, why go after the guy in the mail room?

P.S. Do "mail rooms" even exist anymore? ;)