The blog of the US State Department, DipNote, turned one this week, on Thursday.

It’s one of those blogs in my RSS reader precisely because it is not “the media” and because it captures the voices of ordinary people –the hoi polloi — in far flung places.

Sure it’s the official voice of the State Department, but not in the legally-scrubbed sort of way. It’s diplomacy in action via social media. I have had issues with the scope and speed of its coverage, but like any toddler in the social media sense, DipNote will soon get out of its diapers.

The editors point out that readers have shaped the blog, too:

“While we provide the posts, the back and forth debate gives each post a far more interesting and informative context. I firmly believe a blog’s greatest service is in getting disparate voices from varied geographical regions together in a way that would have been impossible prior to the advent of blogs.”

Congratulations, Luke and the team!