The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2016 15 Some Chinese social media users accused the embassy of waging a “public opinion war,” but Weber insisted that it was a standard exercise in public diplo- macy and outreach by the embassy. But how useful are these online efforts? According to Shaun Riordan, a British senior visiting fellow at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, foreign ministries and embas- sies seem to have become obsessed with having a social media presence for its own sake. But simply being online is not enough anymore, Riordan writes in a USC Center for Public Diplomacy blog post. Social media should be used to advance national objectives—not alone, but as one of many digital tools available to today’s diplomats, he says. Riordan adds that engaging in social media is resource-intensive. So, both in terms of time and people, it is essential for diplomats to get all that they can from their chosen channels. Social media can be used to gather information, gauge public opinion and even communicate warnings. Riordan believes that, combined with data min- ing, it can be used to provide real-time information about attacks, natural disasters and political crises. But while diplomats are making sure that their Twitter and Instagram feeds are up to date, Riordan argues, they should also be making use of other digital tools— online platforms and computer “games” that can be used to simulate crises and try out contingency plans. These tools can help diplomats, states and non-state actors to come together to shape key global debates, Riordan concludes—but only if they can escape the obsession with social media. —Gemma Dvorak, Associate Editor Senate Picks Up Pace on Confirmations and Promotions T he speed of confirmations and pro- motions during the past year or so has steadily been returning to the timeframe that was more common in the 2000s— approximately two to three months. Those who follow AFSA’s work on ambassadorial nominees and Foreign Service promotion lists will remember that in the last few years, the pace of con- firmation had slowed to a crawl. At one point, more than 1,800 names on Foreign Service promotion and tenure lists sat unconfirmed for more than a year. AFSA worked to break that logjam and implement new procedures. On May 17, the Senate confirmed the nominations of eight members of the career Foreign Service: Robert Annan Riley III as ambassador to Micronesia, Karen Brevard Stewart as ambassador to the Marshall Islands, Adam Sterling as ambassador to the Slovak Republic, Kelly Keiderling-Franz as ambassador to Uru- guay, Stephen M. Schwartz as ambassador to Somalia, Christine Ann Elder as ambas- sador to Liberia and Elizabeth Holzhall Richard as ambassador to Lebanon. Each of these new ambassadors is a career Foreign Service officer. The Sen- ate also confirmed career FSOMatthew John Matthews as Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Senior Official. The following day, the Senate con- firmed more than 300 promotions and tenures on Foreign Service lists from four agencies: the Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, Foreign Commercial Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Those lists had been submitted to the Senate only a few weeks previously. AFSA congratulates all those who have been confirmed in recent weeks.