How Facebook Ushered Me into the World of Diplomacy

Why did I get a Facebook initially? To easily contact old friends. To socialize. To share the party photos from the night before. To take all of those ridiculous quizzes like, "Which State Are You?" or "What type of Kisser are you?" To "find myself" in those years of teenage identity crisis. 

Yet in the news, I see people using Facebook to start revolutions.  

This is clearly not the Facebook that I, as an American, know. In other parts of the world, Facebook is a political, diplomatic, business and social hub. The politics can get so intense that my sister's Turkish host father will not let his 17 year old use Facebook yet.  Revolutions in Iran start as a result of Facebook. China has recently banned Facebook. The power is so huge; it is beyond seeing the drunken picture of your friends the day after a party. 

As you well know, recently I visited Kosovo for a JADE Junior Enterprises Conference. I was the only American to attend this conference and I did not meet any other American students in the area (some lovely Canadians...). As a result of this conference, I may venture to say that a decent percentage of Kosovar Youth are now my friends on Facebook—for a country isolated for so long, young people are eager to use their IT and English skills to reach out to the world.

You also know that I recently went to a part of Turkey heavily populated by Kurdish people. As a result of being in Kurdish Turkey and Kosovo within three days of each other, I created a Facebook Photo Album called, “Kurds and Kosovo,” probably just because it had catchy alliteration, but I didn’t think much more into it than that.

Then it began….slowly. The Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had mentioned something in his response to a Facebook message I had sent, inquiring why I put Kurds and Kosovars in the same album. My Turkish friend asked why they were put in the same album. 

Call me ignorant of ethnic pride (I’m about as mixed ethnically as a mutt!), but I soon woke up the next morning to comments from a Kosovar detailing—on EVERY Kosovar photo in the album—the difference between Albanians and Kurds, historically, ethnically, linguistically, and geographically. The tone was a little unsettling and after realizing that I had accidentally friended this person without knowing them (in the long line of friend requests from Kosovar students I had met), I deleted all of the comments and removed the culprit from my friends. 

The man then sent me an e-mail, saying that as a Yale student, I would never have titled an album “Kurds and Kosovo” without more “profound intentions” and that he took it that I was claiming Kurds and Albanians were of the same ethnic group. He went on to give me a history of how the Albanians were there for a longer period of time and were their own distinct ethnic group. In short, he was offended.

In my manner, I felt guilty. I sent him a very thought out response, explaining to him that, as a Yale Student, my intentions were no more profound than alliteration and the fact that I had been in the two places within each other. We aren't super humans! I changed the name of the album at his request and apologized for the misunderstanding, explaining to him how I would be returning to Kosovo in the future for study and work hopefully because of the good impression I had. I mentioned that, as the ethnic mutt of an American I am, I apparently didn’t fully grasp the ethnic conflicts he had experienced. I did write a note about how I thought he should have messaged me to clarify the situation before posting his comments all over my album though!  

He e-mailed back, apologizing whole-heartedly, explaining that after years of Balkans ethnic wars, he had taken me as an enemy of Albania. He explained how grateful he was that I wanted to come back and that he was very sorry for acting on such a strong instinct instead of using his reason. I could see where he was coming from. He explained that he too was a naturalized US citizen (though not the ethnic mutt like me!) and his brother had served in Iraq. He was very grateful to America and had studied at CUNY. He also stated that Yale students "weren't super humans, but close to it! ;)" 

I e-mailed him back and thanked him for his honest response. I was amazed at what just happened and I told him. What a soft diplomacy experience we had together! I couldn’t believe it! I asked him if I could tell our story on the blog and he said he would be honored.

The experience helped me realize the tremendous political potential of Facebook. The next day, I told my friend that I solved a soft diplomacy crisis on Facebook. She said, “Why Facebook?” Exactly.

Wake up world! If you thought your Facebook relationship status started heated conflict, imagine what it does in Iran. But also realize how powerful it is in cultural understanding, exchange, and creating even stronger ties after wording mishaps.

My status later stated "Danielle Tomson: has been enlightened on the diplomatic powers of Facebook. Welcome to the rest of the world...." I don’t think I got so many “Likes” from internationals on that status than any other I had before…