Massachusetts Senator John Kerry is President Barack Obama's nomination for his next Secretary of State, Obama announced Friday afternoon. Kerry, who's served in the Senate for 27 years, chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is an experienced foreign policy hand.
Kerry also has an active presence on social media, boasting more than 52,000 Twitter followers. And unlike some politicians who treat Twitter as a broadcast medium only, he often interacts with random other users who tweet at him.
Indeed, Kerry's Twitter use is a sign that if he wins Congress' approval, he's likely to continue his predecessor Hillary Clinton's work in pushing the diplomatic corps use social media and technology in their work. The strategy, which Clinton dubbed "twenty-first century statecraft" and is championed by her Senior Adviser for Innovation Alec Ross, has been warmly embraced by American ambassadors across the world.
These Kerry tweets, for example, are responses to users with only three and 17 followers respectively -- people some high-profile Twitter users might have chosen to ignore:
God bless! that's what its all about MT @midwestsnmom: Tks 4 standing up 4 families like mine. Single mom of twin 4 y/o w/ cerebral palsy.— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) December 7, 2012
Proud to be fighting alongside you,it'll happen MT @bkeife99: I'm a disabled man glad u stood up for treaty. hope it will pass next year.— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) December 7, 2012
And this one, a reply to a sports reporter's joke about the National Hockey League lockout, reveals a great deal more personality than most other politicians' feeds:
and dash my dreams of being a replacement player? MT @dbernstein @johnkerry, can't you do something about NHL lockout? We need Bruins back— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) December 6, 2012
Admittedly, Kerry's no Cory Booker or Chuck Grassley: He can go days without tweeting and he shows plenty of the usual political Twitter behavior, such as tweeting about bills he backs and thanking supporters. But there's plenty of personality there, too -- note these cracks about former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney:
wasn't joking when I said I'd need exorcism post-debate tonight after months playing Mitt Romney cc: @stefcutter twitter.com/JohnKerry/stat…— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) October 23, 2012
Mitt apparently had no binders on foreign policy— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) October 23, 2012
His personable social media presence comes with more than a dash of irony. One of the media narratives that sunk his failed 2004 presidential bid was his stale personality and his sometimes strange attempts to appear interesting. But Kerry's Twitter feed shows just the opposite: an elder politician who knows how to engage online and even have some social media fun.
Just one request: Can someone start Tweets From John?
Do you think Kerry would continue Clinton's work in digital diplomacy? Share your thoughts in the comments.
BONUS: Clinton Advisor Praises the Power of Social Media
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