Clinton uses innovative Web site to spread department’s message
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s videos aren’t quite viral yet and she’s not tweeting, but she is embracing new media, using the Web to promote the agency and her role as the nation’s top envoy.
In less than three months, Clinton’s State Department has embarked on a digital diplomacy drive aimed at spreading the word about American foreign policy and restoring Washington’s image. Part of a broader Internet outreach by President Obama’s administration, Clinton’s Web efforts already have outpaced those of her predecessors.
Since taking over at Foggy Bottom, Clinton’s team has built on e-diplomacy innovations developed during George
W. Bush’s presidency.: They have revamped the department’s Web site ( www.state.gov ) and accompanying Dipnote blog with a fresh array of features, graphics and colorful posts. Among them:
• Users can track Clinton’s foreign travel on an interactive map.
• They can keep up virtually with her every move through Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube.
• They can pose questions through an “ask-the-secretary” column.
“New media is critical in this new era of diplomacy, where smart power and expanded dialogues are essential to achieving our foreign policy goals,” said Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s longtime confidante and chief of staff.
Even for a government Web site, early indications show a surge in interest, according to internal State Department statistics provided to The Associated Press.
Daily views of the Dipnote have doubled from 10,000 a year ago to 20,000 today, with 700 subscribers to its RSS feed, twice as many as in March 2008. The number of followers of the department on Twitter has tripled since Jan. 20, when Obama took office, while the department’s Facebook friends have increased by 2z times in the same period.
Clinton was quick to embrace new media at the start of her presidential campaign. She announced her entry into the race in February 2007 on the Web and followed with regular Internet chats and Internet fundraising appeals.
Nonetheless, Clinton was surpassed by the Obama campaign’s mastery of the Internet and social networking sites. Obama used the Web to raise record donations and identify and orchestrate an army of volunteers.
It was in 2007, under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s spokesman, Sean McCormack, that the department’s public affairs shop began exploring new media in earnest. McCormack started the Dipnote blog, which some foreign service veterans predicted would fail, given the nature of diplomacy.
Clinton has retooled Dipnote with a Twitter feed and a broader range of posts from diplomats.
It’s more than just window dressing. This past week, diplomats used Twitter to “tweet” down false rumors they feared might lead to a siege on the U. S. Embassy in Madagascar.
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