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

How has a member of the "Silent Generation," those born before or during World War II in the hush that preceded the digital explosion, managed to do this?

Buy into the system (literally and figuratively), find your voice, and use the tools every day. 

Almost every U.S. embassy and agency has a website, and even a Facebook page, to communicate with public audiences — in the United States and abroad.

U.S. Embassy Harare has a website and a Facebook page, as well as a YouTube channel and a Twitter account.

I use my personal Facebook page, Twitter feed, and blog to supplement and expand the embassy's messages.

In Zimbabwe, where 65 percent or more of the population is  under 35, these tools are increasingly effective channels for communicating with educated, young Zimbabweans.

With Zimbabwe's dramatic rise in the use of 3G service to access the Internet, our use of these methods gives us rapidly growing access to young people on their cell phones.

Using Facebook and SMS, we regularly put together youth-oriented discussions and programs at a moment's notice. 

My embassy team also uses social media to blunt the impact of incessant anti-Western propaganda by the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).

For example, when hard-line elements blocked  meetings I had scheduled with young people in rural areas, we responded with live Facebook chats — engaging the very same young people, some of whom logged onto Facebook through their phones while others participated on computers in our American Corners.

The chat was accessible to anyone following our Facebook page and generated more discussion and media coverage than an actual live meeting would have. 

I also engage in daily chats with young Zimbabweans on my own Facebook page. My page has become a platform for explaining U.S. policies in an informal setting. This has changed some of the perceptions that young Zimbabweans have of the United States and American officials.

During one of my late night chats, a  young Zimbabwean man wrote, "Who does the writing on your page? A member of your staff?"

"No," I replied. "I do it myself."

"Wow!" was his response. "I've never heard of a senior official doing something like that himself." 

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