LEBANON: FACEBOOK: BEIRUT'S NEWEST TOOL IN YOUTH

UNCLAS BEIRUT 000347 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP OEXC KPAO KMPI SUBJECT: LEBANON: FACEBOOK: BEIRUT'S NEWEST TOOL IN YOUTH OUTREACH REF: BEIRUT 335 ¶1. Summary: Responding to the overwhelming popularity in Lebanon of an American-based social networking website, Public Diplomacy (PD) Beirut is inviting tech-savvy Lebanese youth from all walks of life to become friends...on Facebook. With a membership base of 256,000 people in Lebanon and growing, Facebook is an accessible and cost-effective medium of communication with PD's target youth audience. Visitors to PD's interactive Facebook profile can learn about upcoming exchange and training programs and communicate with PD staff, with or without becoming Facebook friends. So far, user feedback has been positive. End summary. ¶2. To engage the Lebanese, known for their desire to remain at the fore of everything trendy, PD designed and launched a Facebook profile (BeirutUs Embassy) in November 2007 to tap into a membership base spanning from high school teenagers to mid-career professionals, PD's target demographic range. According to Alexa.com, a site measuring internet traffic by country, the most visited website in Lebanon is Facebook, even ahead of internet giants Google and Yahoo. The outreach potential through Facebook is staggering. According to Facebook, currently 256,000 people in Lebanon have Facebook profiles, 50% of whom are 22 years old or younger. This number grows considerably once Lebanese expatriates, avid visitors to the site, are factored in. ¶3. PD's profile already hosts more than 250 friends (composed of prospective program participants, alumni and the general public) with new ones added daily. In fact, after plugging PD's profile during an interview on LBC TV, more than 20 friend requests appeared the same day. (Note: To become a Facebook "friend," a member sends a request to another's profile and awaits confirmation from the recipient. Once the friendship is established, the new friends can see each other's complete profile including a list of each other's friends. This, in essence, is how a member's Facebook network expands, by linking with friends of friends. End note.) Since the BeirutUs Embassy profile is visible to anyone with a Facebook account, PD reaches an audience wider than just those who make the commitment to become full-fledged friends. ¶4. PD Beirut now promotes all student and young professional programs on Facebook (reftel) in addition to on the Embassy's own website. Facebook's interactive nature allows PD to post program information, including pictures of recent PD-sponsored events, while visitors send private messages or publicly share thoughts or ask questions on "the wall," a forum visible to all Facebook members. In addition to advertising youth-oriented PD programs such as Fulbright, Fusion Arts Exchange and Youth Exchange and Study (YES),PD started incorporating Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) recruitment material as well, the first being for the Student Leaders Institutes scholarship. To further one post-designed project ("US-Lebanon Sister Schools"),PD created a Facebook group for each of the four school pairs so the American and Lebanese students can communicate and develop friendships. This site is an effective medium since most of the Sister Schools participants already had Facebook accounts. Even many English Access students, typically from humble socio-economic backgrounds, are active members. ¶5. User feedback thus far has been positive. One 22-year-old, for example, sent this message: "It is cool you are giving a chance to access to (sic) such a formal institution from a friendly way." He then went on to ask for advice on how to apply for one of PD's advertised programs. Facebook, in only a short time, has proven to be a cost-effective way (the site is free to join) to communicate with a large audience in PD's target demographic, promote upcoming programs and maintain contact with alumni. PD Beirut will continue to monitor Lebanon's response to the profile to measure the Facebook's effectiveness as an outreach tool, specifically in program recruitment. SISON