In an effort to reach out to Iranians across the world, the U.S. launched an official Farsi Twitter feed late Sunday. Twitter is increasingly becoming a way to reach out to people in far off distances and encourage discussion, and the Farsi feed has over 2,000 followers already.
“US State Dept recognizes historic role of social media among Iranians. We want to join in your conversations,” the department said in its first tweet.
The Tweets turned increasing political as they called out the Iranian government for supporting the Egyptian revolution while not allowing citizens in their country to demonstrate themselves. This Twitter strategy follows Hillary Clinton’s request that diplomats adopt social media techniques to get on board with a “fast-changing world” where civilian’s voices are more prevalent thanks to the Internet. “Social media is going to change things, and if we are not on top of it and driving the message and responding to it as effectively as we can, we are going to be left behind,” she said at a Washington gathering according to Politico. Last week, the State department started an Arabic Twitter feed as well.
[via CNN]
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