The US Embassy in Iraq Wants to be Your Facebook Friend

The US Embassy in Iraq is more popular than you are. At least if you’re judging by Facebook friends, of which the Embassy has 800, according to MSNBC.

The goal of the page is to reach out "to Iraqis who want to learn more about American culture and society, the latest step by the State Department to boost interest in Iraq's burgeoning online culture and promote Web entrepreneurship," says MSNBC.

During Saddam Hussein’s regime, Iraq had just one Internet provider and all communications were watched by the government. Now, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is underscoring the importance of "Internet freedom and its place in US foreign policy," said MSNBC.

That’s why the Embassy in Baghdad is looking for more new friends. In return, the page offers features like "English Language Corner" to help Iraqis learn colloquial language. It’ll also have American music and sports on it. But they might have to do more. "The natural audience for embassy Facebook pages is not enormous," the Embassy’s spokesman said.

But even as far as embassies go, the US Embassy in Iraq has some work to do. Even a small country like Jamaica has 1,328 fans. Not to mention how wildly popular the Embassy in Indonesia is, with 23,659 fans.

Could we make a few suggestions? Like maybe befriending other popular people like Roger Federer or the cast of Jersey Shore. Maybe it needs to post wittier status updates. Or maybe it just needs to take cuter profile pictures.

But please US Embassy, don’t tag us in those photos of us at the last embassy party. You know how wild we get when the Secretary of Commerce comes to town.

Photo courtesy JayelAheram via Flickr