German Embassy Washington Joins Facebook

Enlarge image (© Botschaft Washington)

The German Embassy Washington has joined Facebook, the world’s most visited social networking site, making it possible for anyone to become a fan. Fans of the German Embassy on Facebook are able to connect with other fans, get the latest Embassy news and be the first to learn about Embassy events in the Washington, DC, area.

The Embassy’s Facebook page features a profile image of the Embassy and regular status updates and links to information on www.Germany.info. Early postings included a link to the results of the survey on Americans’ image of Germany, an announcement of a reading at the Embassy by German poet Durs Grünbein, and an article about German research findings on why tomato juice is so popular on airplanes.

In the first week of its existence, the page gained over 600 fans, many of whom posted their own comments, like this one from Rich R., “Hallo from Appleton, Wisconsin! Happy to be connected to the German Embassy!” Several fans even posted comments in German, though the primary page language is English.

Many users became fans after reading the announcement on the front page of Germany.info or in the German Information Center’s weekly e-mail newsletter, “This Week in Germany.”

Enlarge image Look for this bus on the streets of the Washington area and online on the pages of Germany.info. (© Germany.info)

Even those who are not Facebook members can still view the German Embassy Washington page and keep up with the latest comments and postings.

Facebook is the world's most visited social networking site, with over 400 million users. A number of German Consulates General in the US have also joined Facebook - the Consulate General Los Angeles and the Consulate General Atlanta so far. A number of other German embassies worldwide also have Facebook pages, including London, Ankara, and Mexico City.