British Foreign Office Goes YouTube

In an attempt to court the young, the Foreign Office is re-launching its own YouTube channel.

What’s in a name? Well, if your YouTube channel is called Foreign Office Presence on YouTube, you can be forgiven for thinking that it’s very little. But the clumsily-titled channel, which has been around since last September, is to have a big re-launch in March or April.   In a story in the Guardian, a spokesman said,   "There will be a total revamp of the web presence and that includes a presence on YouTube because of the particular segment of the market YouTube is targeted at, the 18-25s."   One burning question, of course, is why a government office is so keen to target that demographic, going behind the scenes for off-camera talking from Foreign Secretary David Miliband or catching the doubtless enthralling observations of junior staffers.   It is, apparently, a two-pronged initiative. The first is aimed at young Britons themselves, as part of the Know Before You Go campaign, aimed at stopping a repeat of previous years when large numbers of young British holidaymakers ended up in hospital or under arrest for binge drinking abroad.   The other intent, is to aim at the young in Arab countries, hoping to limit some of the damage to Britain’s reputation by its involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But will trying to make diplomats and wonks appear cooler and more approachable really make a difference? Tune in and find out.