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The horrid attack that shook London on Wednesday was a painful reminder that terrorism still plagues our world. Within minutes of the attack confusion and panic spread offline and online as people scrambled to make sense of the events unfolding outside Parliament. Initial reports indicated that several terrorists had attacked various targets across the city.... Continue Reading →
20th Century Diplomacy For most of the 20th Century, diplomacy was practiced behind iron curtains. While diplomats would often pose for photo opportunities, such photographs were taken before and after their meetings. The diplomatic deliberations themselves took place within the inner sanctums of great palaces or behind the closed doors of historic halls. It was... Continue Reading →
Ambassadors can serve as important digital diplomacy assets. Given their high profile, Ambassadors are often able to attract more social media followers than embassies. Additionally, given their extraordinary and plenipotentiary status as government representatives, their online comments soon find their way to media reports. Indeed, an Ambassadorial tweet can spark controversy, or add new opinions... Continue Reading →
Two weeks ago I published an analysis of the images of Syria used by the British FCO on Twitter. My analysis found that the FCO employs images that resonate with iconic moments from British history. In addition, I found that these images are an integral part of the British narrative of events in Syria. This... Continue Reading →
Despite recent debates on fake news and the virility of rumors and gossip, it is important to remember that social media users are intelligent, curious and eager to learn about events shaping their world. More specifically, digital diplomacy followers are often interested in insight and analysis of global events. For this reason, narratives may play... Continue Reading →
On Friday, December 2nd, the Oxford Digital Diplomacy Research Group, and the Latvian Mission to Geneva, co-hosted a Digital Diplomacy event at the UN headquarters in Geneva. The purpose of the event was to examine whether there is a Return On Investment in digital diplomacy activities. The event demonstrated that the first stage of digital... Continue Reading →
When one explores the digital diplomacy activities of embassies, he is often surprised by the number of social media accounts embassies now maintain. For instance, embassies in Washington DC are often active on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. The rationale for operating several accounts lies in the understanding that audiences use different social media platform... Continue Reading →
Introduction In May of 2014, I published my analysis of the social network of world foreign ministries (MFAs) on twitter. My assumption was that MFAs would actively follow one another online in order to gather relevant information. For instance, by following other ministries an MFA may be able to identify policy changes in certain countries,... Continue Reading →
In a fascinating article published in 2015, Piki Ish-Shalom argued that world leaders have begun to take charge of the mundane, routine, workings of diplomacy rather than limiting their involvement in diplomacy to times of crises. World leaders are now King Diplomats. Ish-shalom further argues that world leaders’ over reaching in diplomacy leads us to... Continue Reading →
