The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 25 Stagnation is a no-no in social diplomacy, so building the embassy’s audience remains a priority in a country where there are millions of potential— but often fickle—followers. round of news stories on major issues,” says the embassy’s press attaché, Joseph Kruzich. He leads a press staff of four Americans and nine Locally Engaged Staff members, several of whom focus on social media and messaging. They have re-energized the embassy’s once-sleepy Twitter account, which now reaches more than 15,000 followers, and revamped its Facebook page to appeal more to younger Russians. Some of the ambassador’s tweets—most of which he drafts himself, others with the support of the social media staff—reach an estimated half-million people during a 24-hour news cycle, offering personal comments on his family, music, sports and Russian history. He also makes a point of responding to some tweets and, at times, correcting errors or questionable asser- tions. “One of the things that makes Amb. McFaul’s account stand out is that he responds regularly to his followers,” observes Breton Boudreaux, the social media coordinator for the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. “If someone says something controversial, he isn’t afraid to weigh in. He also has a tough skin. Followers personally attack him, yet he keeps on doing what he is doing.” McFaul got plenty of positive and negative comments when he sent a tweet in 2012 criticizing the unusually harsh sentenc- ing of the Pussy Riot punk-rock performers. His comments were picked up widely in the traditional media, as well. Over the past year Embassy Moscow has used social media effectively to handle various public diplomacy challenges, including Russia’s grant of asylum to Edward Snowden, the White House cancellation of a planned Moscow summit, U.S.- Russian disagreements over responding to the chemical weap- ons attack in Syria, and some prominent human rights cases in Russia. A dependable lightning rod for social media commentary has been Moscow lawyer, corruption-fighter and political activist Alexei Navalny—once described by the Wall Street Journal as “the man Vladimir Putin fears most” in politics. So it was no surprise that the Russian Twitterverse exploded after McFaul’s “apparent political motivations” critique. It became one of the most retweeted comments of the year and was widely quoted in traditional Russian media, as well. Such tweets on news developments or controversial issues are the most popular among Russian journalists and social- media followers. But by neces- sity, much of the embassy’s social media tends to focus on drier policy issues. While McFaul and the embassy often tweet links that can also be found on the State Department site, journalist Elena Chernenko points out that the ambassador “also tweets lots of interesting insights or comments that are not found any- where else.” EUR’s Breton Boudreaux speculates that the tweets’ “mix of policy with some insights into his personal life makes him a real human being” for many Russians. McFaul, who speaks Russian well, is mindful of how impor- tant it is to communicate primarily in a nation’s own language. So he makes a point of sending out most of his tweets, many of his Facebook posts and all of his blog posts in Russian. The embassy’s site has followed that example, as well, translating almost all tweets. While McFaul does occasionally make gram- matical mistakes, followers have told him that those small errors actually lend authenticity to his posts. A Supplement, Not a Substitute Even though he is a strong believer in the effectiveness of social media platforms in public diplomacy, the ambassador acknowledges limits to their effectiveness. “Finding the correct balance between personal and professional matters is one of the toughest challenges to using these new tools effectively,” he says. The lines between public and private tend to blur in social media, and Amb. McFaul has found that personal information generates the most ‘likes’ on Facebook and questions from Twit- ter followers. This is especially evident when he mixes personal observations with wider public policy discussions on his blog (http://m-mcfaul.livejournal.com/ ). After the Russian Duma adopted a law to ban U.S. adoptions of Russian orphans late in 2012, for example, the ambassador complained that the sensational and, at times, misleading news coverage of a Russian child’s death in Texas had been an unfor- tunate factor in the legislative debate. Recounting the positive experiences of more than 60,000 Russian children adopted over the years by American parents, McFaul wrote: “It is time for sensational exploitations of human tragedy to end and for professional work between our two