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22 Mar 2013
Amman, 22 March 2013 The British Ambassador to Jordan H.E Mr. Peter Millet t met JMI Students on Thursday 21/3/2013 as part of JMI’s guest speaker series. Being an active diplomat in using social media and having his own blog, face book and twitter accounts, H.E discussed his personal experience in the use of new digital media in diplomacy. In his talk Ambassador Millet highlighted the main areas that are of interest to diplomatic missions, represented in supporting the positive image of the country and its interests abroad, and encouraging economic development through commercial exchange, in addition to consular matters related to issuing visas, passports and caring for the interests of nationals. H.E also highlighted the importance of a diplomat’s knowledge and understanding of the country’s characteristics, such as understanding the language, traditions and its society in general, in addition to being constantly in communication with the ministries, and the local and international governmental institutions. Commenting on effective ways of achieving diplomatic goals through communication with the media and the public he said:” there are old or traditional ways of communication using press releases, press conferences and TV interviews, but there are also modern ways which include social media and new digital media like Blogs, websites, facebook and Twitter, which reach a big audience in an effective and timely manner.” He also added that in the age of new technology and in today’s fast paced environment people are only interested in short precise messages as opposed to long ones. Towards the end of his talk Ambassador Millett answered the Student’s inquiries and stressed the importance of diplomatic awareness and good judgment in the use of social media, to eliminate confusion between personal opinions and official statements, since anything a diplomat states is considered official.