Clinton embraces new media

WASHINGTON (AP) — Her videos aren’t quite viral yet and she’s not tweeting, but Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is embracing new media, using the Web to promote the agency and her role as the nation’s top envoy.

In less than three months, Clinton’s State Department has embarked on a digital diplomacy drive aimed at spreading the word about American foreign policy and restoring Washington’s image. Part of a broader Internet outreach by President Barack Obama’s administration, Clinton’s Web efforts already have outpaced those of her predecessors.

Since taking over at Foggy Bottom, Clinton’s team has built on e-diplomacy innovations developed during George W. Bush’s presidency:

UThey have revamped the department’s Web site (www.state.gov) and the Dipnote blog (http://blogs.state.gov and http://twitter.com/dipnote) with a fresh array of features, graphics and colorful posts.

UUsers can track her foreign travel on an interactive map (http://www.state.gov/secretary/trvl/map/?trip—id5).

UThey can keep up virtually with her every move through Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/statevideo).

UThey can pose questions through an “ask-the-secretary” column (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/ask/secretary/117297.htm) that recently was revised to “text the secretary.” (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/ask/secretary/120236.htm)

“New media is critical in this new era of diplomacy, where smart power and expanded dialogues are essential to achieving our foreign policy goals,” said Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s longtime confidante and chief of staff.

Even for a government Web site, early indications show a surge in interest, according to internal State Department statistics provided to The Associated Press.

Daily views of the Dipnote have doubled from 10,000 a year ago to 20,000 today, with 700 subscribers to its RSS feed, twice as many as in March 2008.

The number of followers of the department on Twitter has tripled since Jan. 20, when Obama took office, while the department’s Facebook friends have increased by 21‚Ñ2 times in the same period.

Like Obama, Clinton carries a Blackberry, but she is not allowed to use it on the department’s secure seventh floor where her office is.

Aides say she takes an active role in answering questions from the Web, responding to bloggers and pushing her agency’s new media agenda.

Clinton was quick to embrace new media at the start of her presidential campaign. She announced her entry into the race in February 2007 on the Web and followed with regular Internet chats and Internet fund-raising appeals.