By Mitchell Polman

It seems an unlikely match — the U.S. federal government and social networking. But the Department of State apparently didn’t think so in October 2008 when the department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) became the first U.S. government agency to launch a social networking site, called “ExchangesConnect“. ECA entered the world of social media world in order to enhance its existing international exchange programs, creating a portal open to people of all ages from all over the world. Hoping that alumni of exchange programs will attract other people to the site from their personal networks, the State Department makes a special effort to inform participants and alumni of student exchanges and other State-sponsored programs about it.

Michele Peters, Special Advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Education and Cultural Affairs, sees social media as “a perfect digital complement to our traditional exchange programs, facilitating online conversations and expanding the universe of people we engage.” The site is designed to create a dialogue amongst people who wish to build peace and improve international understanding, but who may never have participated in a formal exchange program. It is also, according to Peters, another way for the U.S. to reach out to young people around the world. She cites the “need to better engage the critical youth demographic that is interested in constructive action.”

ExchangesConnect currently has almost 14,000 members. That is a tiny fraction of the people on Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. Indeed, one may wonder how ExchangesConnect can carve out an audience, given the profusion of other social networking opportunities on the Internet. Working in its favor is that ExchangesConnect different is the first social networking website that is exclusively devoted to promoting international exchange and understanding. Only so many people, after all, can participate in traditional exchange programs, but anyone with a web connection can be part of a social networking site that is part of international exchange. Peters says, “Our goal is to use the network to extend our exchange programs virtually to hard-to-reach, non-traditional audiences, as well as those audiences who already live online.”

One way the site works to create this sense of a global community is to highlight user-generated content. For example, on Global Youth Service Day in April 2009, students in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Tajikistan posted stories about projects that they had worked on. Still other participants have posted stories about their participation in elections and on their work to combat violence in their communities. There are also regular contests and challenges that help keep the community energized. The site has an annual video contest on a topic of global concern; this year’s topic is “changing the climate” — a timely metaphor for how people around the world are achieving change where they live. And the prize is worth it — foreign contest winners qualify to receive a two-week international exchange program in the United States, and U.S. contest winners get an overseas exchange experience. In terms of other user-generated content, some site members use ExchangesConnect as a platform for blogging, and every month ECA selects a few bloggers to highlight.

Some community members are using the site to make direct personal connections. Mr. Frank Palatnick, an education specialist from New York, uses ExchangesConnect to make connections with other educators throughout the globe and to organize conferences on his theories worldwide. Palatnick says that “through [ExchangesConnect] I am attempting to encourage facilitators around the world to teach student-centered and compassion-based learning,”

Because the site draws people interested in cultural exchanges around the world, not all of the connections been made through ExchangesConnect have been across boundaries. For example, a South African documentary filmmaker found another South African who was able to help her find artists to interview for a new film.

I looked at the site and while I found it to be an innovative idea, the site presently has a few limitations. For example, few participants post messages seeking assistance on exchanges on either the blogs or the boards. There is no central bulletin board on the site that people hoping to organize an exchange could use to ask questions or offer feedback. While the website only allows English so that users can understand one another, not all of the users are equally proficient in English and non-native English speakers and people who are not frequent web users may have a difficult time understanding and navigating the site’s interface. Finally, the many different media types the site uses may also make it difficult for somebody overseas to download the site if they have a slow dial-up connection.

These shortcomings could explain some of the more random postings that I noticed. A Pakistani journalist posted a message on a group board devoted to U.S.-German understanding saying that he wanted to produce documentaries on both American and German history and culture. The State Department does fund documentary projects on the U.S., but it is unlikely that any of the participants in that forum would be aware of that fact. In another such instance, I noticed a posting by a girl from Azerbaijan to a teenage American girl’s blog. The Azeri was looking for information on the Fulbright scholars program. While the teenage American girl was involved with Azeris on an exchange program, she was not in a position to be able to answer questions about Fulbright. The site does enable people with similar interests or who are alumni of specific ECA programs to form groups over the site. However, it does not serve as a platform for people seeking information on ECA-sponsored exchange programs. It would be an improvement if the site had links to programs such as Fulbright and other exchange programs.

ExchangesConnect is indeed bringing people together for dialogue and some exchange. Cyberspace, however, is not a substitute for face-to-face encounters. If the site can better target its audience and keep in mind the limitations of its overseas users, it may well greatly enhance America’s connectivity with the world through exchange. Currently the site is an excellent tool for creating dialogue and discussion, but it is just getting started in terms of its ability to turn discussion into concrete action.

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