Noting that social networking technologies can be used “to enable individuals across a country, or across the globe, to interact, engage, and become empowered,” Sen. Richard Lugar, in an article published yesterday on Foreign Policy.com, calls for the broadened use of such tools as an important complement to conventional public diplomacy:

"I would encourage the administration and our diplomats to be nimble, flexible, and innovative as they pursue a wide range of foreign-policy initiatives that use these new communication and connection techniques. Diplomacy and development are our best means of winning the global war of ideas, and we must come to the battle armed with the most modern tools at our disposal."

In the article, Lugar draws attention to the work of State Department special advisor for innovation, Alec Ross, who is examining ways “to employ communications technology to enhance traditional diplomatic and development activities.” In a recent presentation at the Brookings Institution, Ross noted that he doesn’t take “a utopian view of technology. I don’t believe you can just sprinkle the Internet on a foreign policy challenge and get a good outcome.” Rather, Ross sees technology as particularly effective when applied in a specific way. For example, in his presentation he notes a U.S.-supported anonymous SMS service that enables citizens to report crimes in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, without fear of retribution.