Can the U.S. use Web 2.0 social networks like Facebook to solve crises and promote world peace? That is the obvious question to pose after reading this article in The Washington Post:
Alec Ross arrives today at the State Department, armed with a new set of diplomatic tools including Facebook, text messaging and YouTube. Ross is a senior adviser on innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton — a role created for the 37-year-old nonprofit leader, who quickly rose within the Obama campaign, helping to craft tech policy under top technology adviser Julius Genachowski. His new job will blend technology with diplomacy in an attempt to help solve some of the globe’s most vexing problems on health care, poverty, human rights and ethnic conflicts. And it is emblematic of the expansive approach the administration has taken to the role of technology in advancing its domestic and global agendas.
Instead of “visualizing world peace” perhaps our next bumper-sticker slogan will be: Network World Peace. I’m excited to see how this technology will be used and look forward to following developments closely.
