#AskState: Hillary Clinton's @StateDept Twitter Will Host a Briefing

One of the hallmarks of Secretary Clinton's tenure at the State Department has been her initiative on the use of social media to bring ordinary voices like yours and mine into the international diplomatic forum.  Her vision of the citizen-diplomat is what has sustained this incarnation of this blog, in fact.  Visitors/readers come here from all over the world, including China and Iran, to see what our Secretary of State is saying and doing.  You may remember this video from 2009 when she assumed office.



If you have always wanted to participate in a State Department press conference, ask a question, or state your case, now is your chance! 

U.S. Department of State Hosts Twitter Briefing

Media Note

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

June 14, 2012

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On Wednesday, June 20, 2012, at 2:30 p.m. EDT, the U.S. Department of State will host a special Twitter Briefing. Department Spokesperson Toria Nuland will take questions submitted to the Department’s official English-language Twitter feed @StateDept and official Arabic-language feed @USAbilAraby. Questions can be submitted starting today to @StateDept and @USAbilAraby using the hashtag #AskState.
Spokesperson Nuland will answer questions from the podium in the Department’s press briefing room. Video clips of her responses will be made available on the Department’s YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/statevideo.
@StateDept and @USAbilAraby are two of the Department’s 11 official Twitter accounts. Others include @USAenEspanol (Spanish), @USA_Zhongwen (Chinese), @USAdarFarsi (Farsi), @USAenFrancais (French), @USAHindiMein (Hindi), @USAemPortugues (Portuguese), @USApoRusski (Russian), @ABDTurk (Turkish), and @USAUrdu (Urdu). These social media accounts serve as a conduit for the U.S. Department of State to inform and engage publics around the world on foreign policy issues. They also support the Department’s 21st Century Statecraft efforts, complementing traditional foreign policy by harnessing the digital networks and technologies of an interconnected world.
These Twitter briefings are part of the State Department’s on-going effort to engage audiences directly on foreign policy issues using our in-language social media properties.