Secretary Clinton, by aiming the State Department's trajectory well into the 21st Century, demonstrates how we can bridge the gap caused by lack of formal diplomatic relations. Enlisting specialists in language and technology, Smart Diplomacy permits direct outreach to populations from which we have been heretofore estranged.
If you are among the Iranian readers here, we send greetings and hope you find this new feature useful.
"Ask Alan," a New Way to Engage with Iranians
Media Note
Office of the SpokespersonWashington, DCAugust 2, 2011The Department of State is pleased to announce “Ask Alan,” a new effort to engage with the Iranian people through our Persian language social media brand, USAdarFarsi. USAdarFarsi is active on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Every month on Facebook and Twitter, we will be asking our fans for questions on a topic that we set in advance. Our Persian language spokesman, Alan Eyre, will then provide answers to the most popular questions in Persian in a 5-7 minute long video that will be posted on our USAdarFarsi YouTube channel and then advertised both on our Facebook page and Twitter feeds.
The topic for August was visas, and we invite you to watch the August edition of “Ask Alan” today at http://www.facebook.com/USAdarFarsi. We will post the topic for September along with a solicitation for questions on August 26. “Ask Alan” for August is live now.
We recognize 30 years without diplomatic relations has affected our ability to understand each other. We are increasing our use of social media outlets in order to expand our dialogue with Iranians.
No new photos today, but here is a nice video of Mme. Secretary speaking about State Department presence in cyberspace. She is so smart and pretty. Enjoy!
