Facebook sets up its own worldwide diplomatic service - and Britain is well up the queue

No duffers need apply. These "ambassador posts" will be filled by people with a multitude of diplomatic skills. Tony Blair , anyone?

An astonishing 70 per cent of Facebook's 600 million members are outside the United States. In Britain, which will have one of the first ambassadors, half the population are on Facebook.

The new '"global policy team" will monitor the local political landscape and act as multilingual, TV-friendly communicators in countries and cultures with different values and laws from the US on privacy and personal communications, says Facebook's local paper, the San Jose Mercury News.

"Facebook is confronting its emergence as a global organisation whose membership is much larger than the population of most countries," says the paper. Frank admission:  Facebook technology "can antagonise both Middle Eastern dictators and European democracies fretful about privacy".

The "international directors of policy" as Facebook has dubbed them will handle those challenges.

Debbie Frost, a Facebook spokeswoman, said, "This is the right investment for us. We want to have better relationships with regulators and policymakers across Europe and around the world," said. With a direct line into Facebook, "You limit the scope for misunderstandings," she said.

The first "policy director" hiring round will cover Britain, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Germany, Central and Eastern Europe and other countries particularly the Middle East.

The policy directors will be Facebook's primary contact with foreign government officials and politicians. One immediate issue: In Europe regulators are looking closely at the privacy and data-handling practices of Google and other American Internet companies.

Facebook's new Pan-European director of safety in London, as well as a policy director at the European Commission in Brussels, will help the company navigate Europe's "regulatory shoals".

The idea is not entirely new. Google created a similar international team in 2006. Facebook wants top people. For a Middle East policy director, it asks for someone with a degree in a related field, at least 10 years experience in both government and industry, "superb" written and spoken English - and fluency in Turkish, Arabic or another Middle Eastern language. The Facebook ambassadors must be comfortable with politicians at the most senior levels of government, have experience as a media spokesperson - and have "a passionate belief" in Facebook. Facebook has not disclosed what they are paying.