Mapping the Great Beyond: Identifying Meaningful Networks in

MAPPING THE GREAT BEYOND 13
with links to many of the commentaries, were available after the
event on Twitter via #g2g. 15
Equally, MountainRunner’s earlier commentary on Dipnote
picked up by Zenpundit among others, poses some important
questions about the agility of current government users when using
such a format. 16 The U.S. Department of Defense certainly seems to
be leading the way in blogger engagement, while the U.K.’s Foreign
Office blogs (including comment on Gov2Gov) is also starting to
feel their way. 17 While Stephen Hale effectively admitted he could
neither understand who read his blog nor find an online community
discussing digital diplomacy (an unfortunate confession from the
Head of Engagement, Digital Diplomacy, given the ease with which
most bloggers in the field could complete this task), for the most
part the FCO blogs are better than nothing. 18 I do, however, have to
share MountainRunner’s assessment of the situation, and add that the
current approach is too restrictive of staff rather than allowing them
to take part in a genuine conversation during these still early steps
into an environment dominated by human voice rather than corporate
monotone. As the Cluetrain Manifesto puts it: They will only sound
human when they empower real human beings to speak on their
behalf. 19 Interaction online presents the opportunity and demand for
genuine engagement, not just information dissemination; it is time
to make the most of this opportunity for engagement, through both a
culture shift and embracing the tools available.
The Alliance for Youth Movement Summit, Exchanges Connect
and the Democracy Video Challenge provide some examples of the
attempt to use social media, they are however based on interaction
through a centralized network. 20 However, many Public Diplomacy
organizations have not gotten that far (and equally a centralized
approach may not be the right direction for all of them either).