The Foreign Service Journal, December 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2014 17 SPEAKING OUT Twitter Is a Cocktail Party, Not a Press Conference (or, Social Media for Reporting O”cers) BY WREN E LHA I S hortly before I arrived at my current post, I read a column by AFSA President Robert Silverman (“Are Social Media Overrated?” March FSJ ) in which he cautions against an overreliance on social media, especially if it reduces time spent on the “proven, effective work of direct outreach to key contacts and audiences.” In my experience, social media have become some of the best tools we pos- sess for exactly the sort of contact work Silverman describes. While public diplomacy officers have embraced Twitter and Facebook around the world as outreach tools, it’s time reporting officers learn to use them in our own work. I fear the word “media” may confuse people who associate that word with the world of journalism—and thus, with press and public diplomacy work. By that logic, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are the online equivalents of newspapers, radio and television, and our statements there are the digital equivalent of press releases. Wren Elhai is a Foreign Service o cer currently serving in the political-economic section of Consulate General Karachi. He served previously at Embassy Moscow in the consular section. Prior to joining the State Department, he worked at the Center for Global Development, a D.C.-based thinktank, as a policy analyst. ere, he also ran the Center’s Twitter and Face- book pages and helped senior research sta become more comfortable with Twitter. e views expressed in this article are the author’s own and not necessarily those of the State Department or the U.S. government. I believe a differ- ent metaphor, one that “traditionalist” diplomats may find more familiar, is closer to the mark. A More Appropriate Metaphor Think of these plat- forms as the world’s larg- est cocktail parties, where everyone is invited and guests kindle conversations and relationships, just as in real life. is metaphor should make it easy to understand why, as a reporting o cer, I consider my Twitter account essential to doing my job. We’re paid to get to know people, to build relationships with the in uencers and information gatherers who can help us become better informed. Almost universally, these people are out in force on social media. Those on Twitter are by no means a representative sample of any country’s population. However, the universe of people writing on Twitter is vastly more diverse than the set of people who typi- cally attend diplomatic receptions. I’ve connected on Twitter and Face- book with people I would never have met otherwise. I’ve met youth activists, journalists from cities in our consular district too distant to visit and docu- mentary filmmakers working on topics relevant to our reporting work. And like a good reception, the vibe online is such that you can dive straight into friendly conversation in a way that is hard to do in a “cold” telephone call. In most cases, I “meet” people online by stumbling across interest- ing things they’ve tweeted or articles they’ve published. I follow them on Twitter and may tweet something at them—a question, comment or compli- ment. In the cocktail party metaphor, this is the equivalent of stepping into a conversation. If the conversation is productive, I’ll exchange contact information over direct message, the equivalent of