The Foreign Service Journal, November 2009

N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 43 riting in the March 2008 edi- tion of the Foreign Service Journal (“Welcome to the FS Blogosphere”), former edito- rial intern Marc Nielsen praised the community of For- eign Service-affiliated individ- uals who maintain Web logs for representing “a profound generational shift in the way diplomats see themselves and their work.” That community now appears to be exhibiting the growth spurts characteristic of adolescence, pointing to a promising future. In 2008, just five years after blogging become a popular phenomenon, the Technorati blog tracker counted more than 70 million active sites — but just 60 or so were run by active-duty Foreign Service personnel. (In this article we con- sider only non-official FS sites.) Eighteen months later, that number has doubled. So, by even a conservative count, the FS blogosphere is grow- ing at a faster rate than the blogosphere as a whole, which now totals about 120 million sites. This rapid growth is all the more remarkable when one considers the above-average mortality rate for FS blogs. Many of the blogs noted in last year’s compilation are no longer operational. Even during the time it took to prepare this article, several blogs under consideration died and were replaced, and ultimately surpassed, by newborn or revived blogs. This cycle of destruction and rebirth fits the transience of an FS lifestyle, but the blogs’ expanding readership speaks to their utility for both the writers and the wider community. Watching the longe- vity trends also reveals quite a bit about who within the Foreign Service blogs the most, what types of blogs endure and, on both counts, why. American diplomatic blogging activity still lags behind that in Russia, Israel and Syria, where blogs by diplomats can be found even at the ambassadorial level. But the FS blogosphere is assured of its place and seems set for further growth. True, its effects on the nature of the Foreign Service com- munity’s self-perception, tolerance for dissent and contri- butions to literature are all unknown. But there is no doubt of its potential to promote U.S. soft power, foster the ex- pression of dissent and build connections within the FS community. Mark Hay, a student at Columbia University, is a former ed- itorial intern at the Journal . W T HE FS B LOGOSPHERE IN 2009 F OREIGN S ERVICE BLOGGING HAS BOUNDLESS POTENTIAL TO PROMOTE U.S. SOFT POWER , FOSTER THE EXPRESSION OF DISSENT AND BUILD CONNECTIONS WITHIN THE FS COMMUNITY . B Y M ARK H AY The blogs’ expanding readership speaks to their utility for both the writers and the wider community.