John Kerry Becomes First Secretary of State to Hold Google Hangout

John Kerry is set to make some digital diplomacy history Friday by becoming the first sitting secretary of state to take part in a Google Hangout.

During the Hangout, Kerry will discuss his view of the United States' role in global affairs and take questions on American engagement with foreign countries.

Kerry will be joined at 1:30 p.m. ET by Sarah Hill, a digital storyteller for the Veterans United Network with a strong following on Google Plus; Corrie Fraiser, founder of a social good consultancy firm; Adolfo Garcia, a 20-year U.S. marine who's twice been deployed to Afghanistan; Emily McKhann, co-founder of mom blogger network The Motherhood; and Andrew White, president of Comptus Inc., which produces weather instruments.

"What this technology does essentially is reduces the physical space between us," Hill told Mashable. "It's human media. I have the ability to be in the secretary of state's office, he has the ability to be in my living room ... and we can ask questions of him in real time."

Several of the participants will be soliciting questions via their various social media accounts. The State Department will not be made privy of their questions prior to the hangout.

NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell will moderate the Hangout.

While the partipants will probably ask a wide-reaching range of questions, likely to arise is the controversy over the September attacks on an American diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya. While Kerry's predecessor Hillary Clinton was in charge of the State Department at the time, this week's House Intelligence Committee hearings on the incident has put it and the State Department's role in handling it back into the national discussion.

Kerry's taking part in a Google Hangout is also an indicator that his State Department plans on continuing the legacy of "digital diplomacy" left in Clinton's wake, as Clinton's former Senior Advisor for Innovation Alec J. Ross told Mashable he would.

Kerry has long been an active social media user, formerly tweeting from @JohnKerry and now sending the occasional message from @StateDept signed "-JK."

The John Kerry hangout will be broadcast live in the embedded video player above and at the State Department's Google Plus page. What would you ask Kerry if you had the chance? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Source: http://mashable.com/2013/05/10/john-kerry-google-hangout/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss

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