The State Department Uses Twitter & So Should You! *updated*

For the first time ever the State Department formally announced Secretary Clinton’s upcoming travel plans on Twitter (before releasing a press statement, etc.). As I posted below, she’ll be going to Saudi Arabia and Qatar:

In a first for U.S. diplomacy, the State Department has used Twitter to announce an upcoming overseas trip by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Followers of the department’s “Dipnote” Twitter feed were the first to get official word of Clinton’s Feb. 13-16 trip to Qatar and Saudi Arabia shortly before 1:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday. That was well before the formal announcement, which was not expected until later Tuesday.

Aides to Clinton said it was the first time the State Department has announced a secretary of state’s travel plans through Twitter.

Are you guys on Twitter? Let me know if you are. Dipnotes tweets from here. I have a Twitter account for this blog here so if you are on Twitter stop by and say “hi.”

While the federal government has come to a screeching halt with lots and lots and lots of snow, Secretary Clinton was, of course, doing the diplomacy thing:

With much of the capital shut down for snow and normal business reduced the past couple days, what are principals and policy makers up to?

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had lunch with Rahm Emanuel yesterday, the State Department mentioned yesterday. She gets to put away her snowboots on Saturday when she heads to Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In Riyadh, she’ll be meeting with Saudi King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisa. In Qatar, she’ll meet with Qatari leaders, as well as speak at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, hosted by the Qatari government and the Saban Center…

And according to the P.J. Crowley yesterday (State Dept. spokesman):

QUESTION: And what is she doing today, by the way?

MR. CROWLEY: Today, she is here in Washington, D.C. and is on the – I think she’s had a lunch with Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff at the White House, as well as taking various phone calls with key staff, also doing some budget preparation. For those who are storm watchers, she actually enjoyed a drive yesterday back to Washington from her house in Chappaqua….

He then went on to reassure everyone that Secretary Clinton was not behind the wheel of the car, but rather she had a driver from the Diplomatic Service. *whew*

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