I got an email from Philippe Reines, about the upcoming visit of Sectary Clinton to the Shanghai Expo site. Obviously I was just one of the many people he sent our his email to – bloggers, and other “new media” persons in Shanghai, and in China.
I was amazed by the message it sends – the State Department is engaging new media (bloggers like me) about the activities from the US government. Although I doubt the effectiveness of pinging each individual bloggers/new media about an update, it is a great move, at least a great attempt.
The effectiveness question I have in my mind is about the way they engage new media. Unlike traditional media, there are just few of them (well, I admit hundreds of them) that matter, and to briefing them is about 90% of the communication. Now, it is not only the increase influence of new media that attracts people’s attention, it is also the number of individual bloggers or participants of any SNS site. Is getting hold of individual like myself really matters? Shall we run programs (not just individual) to engage them?
P.S. I followed @StateDept on twitter.
Obama administration is very savvy on new media (one reason Obama beat Hillary and McCain in the 08 presidential campaign).
the fact that you are talking about Clinton’s visit means it’s very effective :-)
interesting….such up-to-dated government. :)
The visit was useful. Content was really very informative. From http://www.cakes2hyderabad.com.