The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2014

30 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The Foreign Service Blogosphere in 2013 T he American Foreign Service Association website fea- tures links to more than 150 active blogs of members of the Foreign Service community. The FS Blogs list ranks consistently among the top five most popular pages on the AFSA site. The blogs are presented by the agency of the blogger. The list is further divided into sections for spouses, both spouses (where they share a single blog), families, opinion, resources, critical perspectives and other blogs. FS bloggers share stories, pictures, videos, articles and sometimes even opinions on mat- ters relating to their service. While social media has become the standard means of online group interaction, blogging con- tinues to expand as a way for members of the FS community to reach out to each other and to the public. Personal journals remain the most popular types of blogs for FS members, likely due to the exciting places their careers take them and the unique sights and experiences that they encounter at each post. The journal is just what it sounds like: bloggers like Rock Star in Dhaka and A Diplomat’s Wife , for example, chronicle their lives with the Foreign Service. For members of the Foreign Service, reading through these blogs is like peering into the lives of colleagues who may share similar, as well as entirely different types of, experiences. For those outside of the Foreign Service, browsing the FS blogo- sphere offers an invaluable window into the lives of officers, specialists and family members. Some readers may simply be interested in what this lifestyle is like; perhaps more, however, use these blogs to investigate a prospective career path or prepare themselves for what lies ahead as part of a Foreign Service family. Other active and retired FS members choose to use their blog space as a platform for publishing opinions on foreign policy and other current events. These critical blogs are often anonymous and are almost always marked by a disclaimer dis- tinguishing the author’s opinion from the official stance of the agency for which they work or worked. Active-duty FS employ- ees, in particular, face challenges when writing about sensi- tive topics, especially in cases where their personal opinions conflict with official policy. Despite such obstacles, these bloggers usually do an artful job of articulating their thoughts and provide insightful com- mentary without undermining the institution or its agencies. For example, Consul at Arms II is a long-time anonymous blogger writing about current controversies in the Foreign Service community, and The Will and the Wallet takes an almost exclusively critical look at foreign policy issues from a budget- ary perspective. The depth of the Foreign Service blogosphere is provided by the wide range of stories and situations represented within it. For those contemplating joining the blogging community, getting started with a new blog is as easy as visiting one of the more popular blog-hosting sites, like Google’s Blogger or WordPress, and signing up. These sites allow users to customize their blog spaces and make it easy to socialize with other bloggers. The sites also outline their privacy settings so that individual users can choose the level of privacy that best suits them. The Foreign Service blogosphere is a tight-knit, yet welcom- ing community. Joining your colleagues on the AFSA list is one more way to generate traffic on your blog and introduce yourself to active-duty, retired and prospective Foreign Service members and bloggers. When you do set up your blog, be sure to let AFSA know so we can include it on the Foreign Service Blogs page. The State Department careers site, where all candidates must go to reg- ister for the FS exam, links directly to the AFSA FS blog list. Here is a sampling of the more than 150 blogs linked from AFSA’s Foreign Service Blogs page, at www.afsa.org/foreign_ service_blogs.aspx. DipNote This is the official blog of the State Department, featuring stories from many authors regarding today’s top issues facing the department and other topics related to foreign policy or employment in the Foreign Service. It serves as one of State’s many social media outlets and provides wonderful images and thoughtful writing on many different subjects, albeit with little controversy. Ambassador’s Blog Luis E. Arreaga, until last November U.S. ambassador to Iceland and previously head of the recruitment division, is one of several ambassadors maintaining a blog of their experi- ences. As heads of mission, they are extremely diplomatic in