I read this blog post by the Baltimore Sun's Jay Hancock and it suddenly struck me: The United States of America needs a PR makeover. Good thing I have a magic wand, because as my good friend Todd Jones would say, "This is going to be a heavy lift." Basically, Jay states that the U.S. still has a shaky reputation abroad because of its actions.
It's no surprise to me that the GAO (Government Accountability Office), in its recent report, noted a new shift in public policy outreach, something that been dubbed "Diplomacy 2.0:"
Interagency efforts to adopt a new approach to public diplomacy— Dynamic shifts in how target audiences obtain and use information have led many public diplomacy practitioners to conclude that the United States must more fully engage emerging social networks and technologies (such as Facebook and Twitter) in order to remain relevant. Referred to as “Public Diplomacy 2.0,” this new approach to strategic communications is exploring ways to operate in this evolving information environment. However, substantial questions exist regarding the challenges associated with this new approach.
If the U.S. government were my client, I would tell them the hard truth: America has a bad reputation, the first thing you should do is STOP doing the bad things that are causing the bad image. Waging the unnecessary and costly war in Iraq set us back 25 years at least. I would also tell them to quit wasting so much money on mass media such as Radio Free America and propaganda leaflet dropping. There is no way to measure either effectiveness or feedback from the people we're "reaching."
Also, as the first President to fight for the right to keep his Blackberry, it does not surprise me that Obama is dragging the diplomatic corps and the State Dept. in right behind him. Using social media as a diplomatic tool makes perfect sense to me.
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