Bringing Two Worlds Together

"I work in public affairs in Egypt, at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. It entails trying to build better relations between the U.S. and Egypt, and doing that not government-to-government but more people-to-people. I manage our Facebook page and Twitter accounts and I work with journalists to try and answer their questions they have about the U.S. and respond to inaccuracies that are in their reporting, or just be a resource for the local media. And also read all the local Egyptian newspapers and watch the television programs and radio, and tell people in Washington and at the Embassy what people are talking about in Egypt and what they care about."
"So how do you know if you're getting results?"
"It's a challenge. We do a lot of different ways that we try to analyze public sentiment; there's a lot of negativity toward the U.S., of course, so we look for small victories. So, particularly on our Facebook page, like any social media, there's a ton of negativity and we try and talk about the good work that we're doing, like Egyptians who are finding opportunity in the U.S., as well as just tell the American story, talk about American values, and correct a lot of misinformation, because our administration is very welcoming to refugees and has a policy that's very counter to what people are reading about in the press right now. We try to make sure that we clarify, 'Here's what the U.S. is actually doing; here's what we care about. It's a messy political system and people have all kinds of opinions, but this is what we value.'"

To look at the Facebook page, search U.S. Embassy in Cairo. 

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