Social media in Zimbabwe works – Former US ambassador to Zimbabwe says he used it effectively to counter ZANU-PF propaganda

Full cable

AMBASSADOR TO ZIMBABWE

  From: Cheryl Mills To: Hillary Clinton Date: 2011-10-29 21:35

Subject: AMBASSADOR TO ZIMBABWE

 UNCLASSIFIED U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2014-20439 Doc No. C05787044

Date: 10/30/2015  RELEASE IN FULL 

From:    Mills, Cheryl D <MillsCD@state.gov>

Sent:     Monday, October 31, 2011 9:35 AM To:

Subject:               FW: Ambassador to Zimbabwe  

From: Ross, Alec3 Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 8:57 AM To: Mills, Cheryl D; Sullivan, JacobJ; Hammer, Michael A; Smith, DanaS(PA)

Subject: Ambassador to Zimbabwe  I wanted to make sure you saw this blog post by our Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray. Thought worth reading  because it counters notion that social media for younger people and less applicable in sub –Saharan Africa. 

http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entryizimbabwe social media 

Conventional wisdom holds that people over 50 cannot master social networking; that new media and fancy tech toys are reserved for the young.

This is an unfortunate misperception that causes many senior government leaders to avoid a great opportunity to reach out to new audiences in a manner that they "hear" and understand. 

For the record, I'm solidly in the pre-computer generation, having turned 65 over a year ago and worked as a government employee for over 49 years.

Therefore, according to prevailing thought, I am one of those who simply cannot make best use of new technologies that my younger colleagues take for granted. But, I refused to  accept this. 

For years, I was casually active on social networking sites, but since I took up my post as Ambassador to Zimbabwe, I have leveraged my social media activity as part of my job to promote U.S. foreign policy.

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