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By COLLEEN P. GRAFFY

Special to The Washington Post

Published: December 27, 2008

As I got ready for an overseas trip this month, I did the things diplomats normally do: I made last-minute calls, prepared notes from meetings, packed briefing materials and travel documents. Then I did something that reflects how the world of public diplomacy is changing to adapt to the digital age: I sent a tweet.

"Tweets" are the lingua franca of Twitter, a social networking tool in which you "micro-share" (140 characters or fewer) a response to the question: What are you doing?

In short, public diplomacy is the art of communicating a country's policies, values and culture. If diplomats want to engage effectively with people, we first need to listen, then connect and THEN communicate. In the part of the world that I know and cover, Europe and Eurasia, most people are tuned in to television, and the younger generation is using text messages and the Internet. So, we need to be there, too.

This is among the reasons the United States built a "media hub" in Brussels - so we could be accessible to the 1,200 journalists covering the European Union and offer them broadcast-quality television and video content tailored for their countries' media needs.

It is also why the State Department introduced "Public Diplomacy 2.0," social networking for State alumni, enhanced Web sites, blogs and Facebook pages for embassies; and why we launched "Green Diplomacy" to connect with people, particularly young people, who care about their environment. In Europe as well as in the United States, all politics are local, and we need to be listening to and participating in the conversations.

When I met with students at the University of Bucharest, and later with Moldovan bloggers, we were connected before I even arrived. One young Romanian student said: "We feel like we already know you - you are not some intimidating government official. We feel comfortable talking with you."

Isn't that what effective public diplomacy is about?

Colleen Graffy is deputy assistant secretary of state for public diplomacy.

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