The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY FEBRUARY 2015 51 AFSA NEWS AFSAVisits State’s Charleston Facilities As part of AFSA’s outreach to mem- bers and agency management alike, State Vice President Matthew Asada and Labor Manage- ment Senior Adviser James Yorke visited the State Depart- ment’s Global Finan- cial Services Center in Charleston, South Carolina, in Novem- ber. They met with Acting Comptroller General Chris Flaggs and other senior ocials in the Oce of the Comptroller General of Finan- cial Services, to discuss the procedures for debt recovery, emphasizing ways to ensure more timely notification to employees about overpay- ments and to reduce the current large number of overpayments (see “AFSA Files Cohort Grievance on State OCP Adjustments” in the November 2014 FSJ for more details). Yorke and Asada also visited the Charleston Pass- port Center, where they met with Deputy Director Teyako Gibbs-Woods and with Boyd Hinton, the senior steward at the National Federation of Federal Employees, one of AFSA’s sister unions. Later, they visited the Oce of Human Resources From left: AFSA Senior Labor Management Adviser James Yorke, HR Shared Services Director Tracey Mahaey, and AFSA State Vice President Matthew Asada. On Oct. 2, AFSA welcomed foreign aairs interns to its third Brown Bag Series event, “Social Media and Diplo- macy,” featuring FSO Vinay Chawla, the State Depart- ment’s director of digital engagement in the Bureau of Public Aairs. Chawla spoke on the power of social media as a platform to inform the public, specifically young adult audi- ences. He discussed the nine social networking tools the State Department employs: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Google+, Tumblr, Instagram, the DipNote blog and the long-form online magazine, Medium . “We really have oppor- tunities to interact in new formats,” Chawla said. “We’ve been able to take on some important topics,” he added, demonstrating how social media extends the State Department’s reach. For example, when Turkey banned Twitter in March, the State Department responded by posting an article, “21st- Century Book Burning,” on its DipNote blog. The article was widely circulated, appearing on the front page of three Turkish news- papers. Chawla noted that John Kerry became the first Secretary of State to hold a Google Hangout, which included an interac- tive discussion on the United States’ response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Chawla also described how his team looks at data to determine what content is popular, what is being shared and where trac is coming from. This type of informa- tion has the potential to help the State Department build relationships it might not otherwise have established. During a question-and- answer session, Chawla acknowledged that incor- porating risky pictures and videos has a positive eect on circulation, but explained that decisions on content need to be based on how the post will reflect on the State Department. The series will continue in 2015. Interested students and interns should check the AFSA website for upcoming events. n —Brittany DeLong, Assistant Editor FSO Explores Social Media and Diplomacy State’s Director of Digital Engagement Vinay Chawla spoke on the power of social media at an intern event. AFSA/BRITTANYDELONG Shared Services. There they met with Director Tracey Mahaey and toured the facility, learning how HRSS interacts with oces and employees throughout the State Department. Of particular interest were the oces devoted to helping retirees, annuitants and sur- vivors navigate the complexi- ties of the Foreign Service retirement system. They concluded the visit with a roundtable discus- sion with AFSA members in Charleston. n —James Yorke, Senior Labor Management Adviser AFSA