ROK - The Most Wired Government on Earth

[성김 대사]

At meetings and public events, people often come up to compliment me on my social media outreach. Maybe they have seen my “Ask the Ambassador” video series, my blog, or even one of my live-streamed events.  They naturally assume that I am tech-savvy and that I can make all this happen on my own. But to tell the truth, I could not do any of this without my dedicated social media, or social network services (SNS), staff.  Aside from the great stuff they do with me, they also run the Embassy’s social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, me2day and, of course, our fantastic YouTube channel. 

In order to manage this massive undertaking, we stay in close contact with the online spokespeople for the White House, Secretary Clinton’s innovation guru Alec Ross, the State Department’s SNS team, and all the companies that make this possible like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and so on.

We are not the only ones working hard to expand our online communications.  Did you know that Korea is not only the most wired country on earth, but that the Korean government is the most wired government on earth?  In November 2011, the Korean government enacted a new regulation mandating that the Blue House and all 40 government ministries appoint full-time online spokespeople in order to better engage with the public.

Because of the close ties between our two governments, my SNS staff and their Korean counterparts often exchange ideas on new media and best practices to keep the public informed.  During one discussion, they came up with the wonderful idea of traveling to the United States together and visiting U.S. social networking companies.  In addition, the trip would allow Korean officials to get to know the U.S. government’s experts in new media.

Unfortunately, I was not able to go, but my SNS team ran with the idea.  Using special State Department funds for innovative projects, they set up what turned out to be a fascinating program.

Korean online spokespeople in Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley!

During a one-week whirlwind tour of Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley, ten Korean online spokespeople from government bodies including the Blue House, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Ministry of Unification talked about innovation and cooperation with U.S. officials and experts.  In D.C. they met with their counterparts from the White House, the State Department, the Smithsonian Institution, the World Bank, George Washington University, NASA and many other institutions.

In Silicon Valley they met with all the heavy hitters including Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube, Cisco, Adobe and the San Francisco City Government.

From all accounts on both the U.S. and Korean sides this was a fantastic trip.  Not only did they learn from the biggest new media companies in the world, but our two governments deepened our understanding and cooperation in an area that will continue to grow more and more important well into the next century.  All I can say is I wish I could have joined this trip!