See: blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is required to adapt to the fast-changing and increasingly globalised communications environment. To fulfil this remit, a dedicated digital diplomacy strategy has emerged, incorporating a suite of blogs written by the Secretary of State, ministers and embassy staff. This promotes some of the department’s campaigns and ensures coverage of a range of high profile foreign policy contexts: the aim is to find ways of feeding issues raised during engagement into the policy cycle.
Over the past year, FCO bloggers has harnessed Twitter and hosted blogs from other platforms. It has changed the way it operates in other ways: whereas authors originally posted on a permanent basis, turn-over is now encouraged. Authors can now write for a specified period if desired, to suit the temporary nature of the project or crisis about which they were blogging, and can produce blogs in the language of their target audience. Links to archives are no longer prominently displayed – nor are the Facebook and Flickr channels. Instead, they are accessible from the main FCO website.
This is because the FCO bloggers targets those who are already interested in international politics (stakeholders and government audiences), rather than seeking to appeal to general members of the public. The aim is to build communities of interest around specific campaigns and foreign policy areas. Nor is this the only way of engaging with those who have an interest in foreign policy: the FCO meets with academics, think tanks, NGOs and representative bodies to ensure that it hears diverse opinion. The digital diplomacy of FCO bloggers is used to supplement work already taking place offline.
The strategy is successful: around half of the blog visitors come from the UK, but FCO bloggers also attract an international audience. The site continues to be well received by its readers – over half of whom visit at least once a week. A larger than average proportion of those who visit the site leaves comments, and reads those posted by others. Seen from this perspective, the blog is fulfilling its aim – namely to deepen engagement with communities of interest. There is scope for improvement: feedback has suggested that there could be more consistency in terms of standards of blogging and levels of interaction with those leaving comments.
More could be done, too, to engage the less dominant voices to participate in foreign policy contexts: so far, men outnumber women on the site, reflecting patterns of involvement found offline. Ensuring that all communication channels remain accessible may help: since the blog was first launched, the Global Conversations brand has grown. Dedicated Flickr and YouTube channels now exist (linked to from the main website, but not from FCO bloggers). In addition, there is a Twitter feed. This does not necessarily have an impact on core readers, although there is anecdotal evidence within the feedback collected from visitors to the site that they found FCO bloggers because of it.
FCO bloggers has become a well-recognised and respected brand amongst those interested in foreign policy. Partly, this is due to the fact that the bloggers are able to speak directly to their ‘constituents’, making the work of the FCO more accessible and transparent. Visitors to the site are able to move around between different blogs, increasing their knowledge about foreign policy, internationally, whereas once they may have only understood a particular context. They are also able to learn about the work of the FCO more generally. While previously, many visitors to the site may have been interested in a specific policy area, they are now exposed to campaigns and foreign policy agendas which help them to stay informed of British governmental approaches. For many of those visiting the site, the blog is the only contact they have with a government department: a positive experience of FCO bloggers is likely to transform the way that they see the department as a whole.
Other government departments have learnt from the experience of the FCO, whose open approach to communicating on multiple channels has allowed people to inform policy as well as to learn about it. While more could be done to ensure a consistent quality of blogging, responding to comments, FCO bloggers are commendable in their use of new technologies. Their audience is continuing to grow: in the last year, a large proportion (over 65%) of readers has come to the site via word-of-mouth or media/online coverage rather than hearing about it from the FCO itself.
