Last April I wrote a blog post for Social Media NZ about how our Embassy engages in digital outreach using social media platforms. Those efforts are part of a larger initiative launched by Secretary Clinton to develop and institutionalize what she calls 21st Century Statecraft, by which she means harnessing and adapting the digital networks and technologies of today’s interconnected world to enhance traditional diplomacy.

The State Department has designated January as 21^st Century Statecraft month and will run a variety of events to test, highlight, and leverage our evolving social media tools. We here at Mission New Zealand will run our own series of events including, if all goes well, a live webcast from the Ice with several of my scientist friends during my upcoming Antarctica trip.

If you follow me on Twitter, you are already aware that State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland will be answering live from her regular Friday press briefings questions received from the worldwide public through State’s 10 official Twitter feeds (@StateDept plus 9 non-English feeds). Video clips of the questions she answers will be subtitled in the languages of the original tweets and made available on the Department’s YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/statevideo .

At the center of the 21st Century Statecraft effort is my friend and colleague Alec Ross, the Secretary’s Senior Adviser for Innovation. Alec participated today in a LiveAtState video web chat with journalists, bloggers, and other commentators from around the globe in which he talked about conducting diplomacy and meeting challenges in a wired world. You can view the video above or read what Alec had to say here.

Alec has done great work back at HQ and in his travels, and I’ve been trying for some time to persuade him to visit us here in New Zealand. It looks as though the stars have aligned for him to headline a few events we’re planning later this year. Stay tuned.

Today I’m turning my blog over to a new friend of mine, Michael Moore-Jones.

Michael Moore-Jones.

Mike comes highly recommended. As I mentioned back on April 1^st, I had tea at my Residence for New Zealand’s former Ambassadors to the United States. As I was walking Ambassador and Mrs. Frank Corner to their car, Lynn suggested that I take a look at her social media guru grandson Mike’s websites.

So I did. And they impressed me.

Mike is currently 16 years old and attends Scots College here in Wellington. Over the course of his life thus far he has lived in five countries: the United States, New Zealand, the Cook Islands, the Philippines, and Spain.  I list the US first because that’s where he was born.

Mike is passionate about technology, business, and education, and he acts on those passions. He blogs, mentors, and gets involved in start-up companies. One of his projects is They Don’t Teach you This in School, a website that aims to help young people succeed by learning from the experiences of older folk. Among other things, the site runs 60-second videos of adults talking about the most important things they didn’t learn in school. It’s a great idea.

Mike, thanks for your guest appearance today. The floor is now yours …

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Why and How Leaders Should Use Social Media to Communicate with Young People

by Michael Moore-Jones

New Zealanders and Americans have a lot in common, but one of the most immediately obvious things is that in most cases we’re both incredibly passionate about our countries. Quite rightly, too – we both have a lot to be passionate about.

As a young Kiwi with strongly positive feelings for my country, I want to know where it’s heading. I want to know what kind of place New Zealand will be in fifty years. From here, lots of questions start coming to mind - Where are our leaders trying to guide our country? Where does New Zealand fit on an international stage? Who are our diplomats overseas talking to, and what partnerships are they working on? What decisions are on our leader’s minds? Simply – I want to know how my country is placed internationally, and how it is being made more influential.

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Social media users have been playing a starring role in the grassroots dramas unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa. In many countries in the region – including Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria – the Internet is serving as a catalyst for journalists, activists, and other citizens to connect with each other and share with the world their stories and calls for change.

“We were unplugged for five days, no Internet connection, no mobile devices. We were like in a big prison in Egypt,” says Egyptian blogger Dalia Ziada in talking about attempts by former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime to stifle the unalienable rights of human beings to speak, access public information, and assemble peacefully.

The attempted cyber black-out did not – and could not – succeed. It did not – and could not – stop people from connecting or from gathering in the streets to demand change.

“The civil rights movement is not new,” Dalia explains, “but it did not succeed until the Internet appeared and social networks like Facebook and Twitter attracted larger numbers of Egyptians.”

Dalia makes a fundamental point. The Internet is an instantaneous global convenor that amplifies demands for freedom of expression and other universal human rights, facilitates vibrant and open discussion of a wide range of topics, and connects citizens with each other and with people around the world in powerful ways.

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