VZCZCXRO8313
RR RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHGI RUEHJS RUEHKUK RUEHLH RUEHPW RUEHROV
DE RUEHLB #0347 0671020
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071020Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1232
INFO RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BEIRUT 000347 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP OEXC KPAO KMPI
SUBJECT: LEBANON: FACEBOOK: BEIRUT'S NEWEST TOOL IN YOUTH 
OUTREACH 
 
REF: BEIRUT 335 
 
¶1. Summary: Responding to the overwhelming popularity in 
Lebanon of an American-based social networking website, 
Public Diplomacy (PD) Beirut is inviting tech-savvy Lebanese 
youth from all walks of life to become friends...on Facebook. 
With a membership base of 256,000 people in Lebanon and 
growing, Facebook is an accessible and cost-effective medium 
of communication with PD's target youth audience. Visitors to 
PD's interactive Facebook profile can learn about upcoming 
exchange and training programs and communicate with PD staff, 
with or without becoming Facebook friends. So far, user 
feedback has been positive. End summary. 
 
¶2. To engage the Lebanese, known for their desire to remain 
at the fore of everything trendy, PD designed and launched a 
Facebook profile (BeirutUs Embassy) in November 2007 to tap 
into a membership base spanning from high school teenagers to 
mid-career professionals, PD's target demographic range. 
According to Alexa.com, a site measuring internet traffic by 
country, the most visited website in Lebanon is Facebook, 
even ahead of internet giants Google and Yahoo. The outreach 
potential through Facebook is staggering. According to 
Facebook, currently 256,000 people in Lebanon have Facebook 
profiles, 50% of whom are 22 years old or younger. This 
number grows considerably once Lebanese expatriates, avid 
visitors to the site, are factored in. 
 
¶3. PD's profile already hosts more than 250 friends (composed 
of prospective program participants, alumni and the general 
public) with new ones added daily. In fact, after plugging 
PD's profile during an interview on LBC TV, more than 20 
friend requests appeared the same day. (Note: To become a 
Facebook "friend," a member sends a request to another's 
profile and awaits confirmation from the recipient. Once the 
friendship is established, the new friends can see each 
other's complete profile including a list of each other's 
friends. This, in essence, is how a member's Facebook network 
expands, by linking with friends of friends. End note.) Since 
the BeirutUs Embassy profile is visible to anyone with a 
Facebook account, PD reaches an audience wider than just 
those who make the commitment to become full-fledged friends. 
 
 
¶4. PD Beirut now promotes all student and young professional 
programs on Facebook (reftel) in addition to on the Embassy's 
own website. Facebook's interactive nature allows PD to post 
program information, including pictures of recent 
PD-sponsored events, while visitors send private messages or 
publicly share thoughts or ask questions on "the wall," a 
forum visible to all Facebook members. In addition to 
advertising youth-oriented PD programs such as Fulbright, 
Fusion Arts Exchange and Youth Exchange and Study (YES), PD 
started incorporating Middle East Partnership Initiative 
(MEPI) recruitment material as well, the first being for the 
Student Leaders Institutes scholarship. To further one 
post-designed project ("US-Lebanon Sister Schools"), PD 
created a Facebook group for each of the four school pairs so 
the American and Lebanese students can communicate and 
develop friendships. This site is an effective medium since 
most of the Sister Schools participants already had Facebook 
accounts. Even many English Access students, typically from 
humble socio-economic backgrounds, are active members. 
 
¶5. User feedback thus far has been positive. One 22-year-old, 
for example, sent this message: "It is cool you are giving a 
chance to access to (sic) such a formal institution from a 
friendly way." He then went on to ask for advice on how to 
apply for one of PD's advertised programs. Facebook, in only 
a short time, has proven to be a cost-effective way (the site 
is free to join) to communicate with a large audience in PD's 
target demographic, promote upcoming programs and maintain 
contact with alumni. PD Beirut will continue to monitor 
Lebanon's response to the profile to measure the Facebook's 
effectiveness as an outreach tool, specifically in program 
recruitment. 
 
SISON