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Like most nations and international organizations, the European Union has eagerly adopted social media over the past two years. And like most foreign ministries, the E.U.'s digital diplomacy apparatus amounts to a social media empire consisting of countless twitter channels and Facebook profiles. On twitter, one can choose to follow the E.U.'s Foreign Policy Service,... Continue Reading →
On May 8th, First Lady Michele Obama posted a Selfie on her twitter account holding a sign with the hashtag #bringbackourgirls. Over the last week, public response to this Selfie has ranged from enthusiastic to hostile with some journalists attacking the First Lady for taking pictures rather than taking action to rescue the 250 Nigerian... Continue Reading →
Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to further my study of Israel's Digital Diplomacy by interviewing Gal Rudich, Head of New Media Section at the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Gal spoke to me about the Israeli digital diplomacy model, how the ministry coordinates digital diplomacy messages at the ministry and embassy level, how the ministry... Continue Reading →
I have often wondered if foreign ministries follow each other on twitter, and if so, do foreign ministries regard twitter as an important source of information. After all, by monitoring the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs' twitter channel world governments can gather important information regarding events shaping this country's future as they unfold. Likewise, by... Continue Reading →
I recently became interested in learning which language rules supreme in the world of twiplomacy. While English has long since replaced French as the Lingua franca in the physical world, I was not so sure it had done so in the digital one. I therefore compiled a sample of 84 countries analyzing the languages they... Continue Reading →
Two months ago I concluded a three week exploratory study of Digital Diplomacy channels operated by foreign ministries. The study aimed to explore differences between official twitter channels and Facebook profiles and answer the age old question- are different messages used in different mediums? While three weeks are a relatively short period in the physical... Continue Reading →
During my travels through cyberspace, I recently came across an article published by Jimmy Leach in August of 2013 on the Huffington Post. In this article, titled "Add Digital Diplomacy to the Long List of Failures Over Syria", Mr. Leach claims that in the wake of the Syrian civil war, "digital diplomacy never looked so... Continue Reading →
Israel has one of the most active Digital Diplomacy units in the world. In a recent survey I conducted of 86 countries spanning the globe, Israel's MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) was found to be the tenth most active MFA on twitter. It was also the fifth most popular MFA in the sample. Yoram... Continue Reading →
When exploring the world of digital diplomacy, one is often confronted by a puzzling plurality of official twitter channels. For instance, the US digital diplomacy apparatus includes President Obama's twitter channel, Vice President Biden's twitter channel, Secretary of State John Kerry's twitter channels, twitter channels operated by official spokespersons of the US government, the State... Continue Reading →
One of the many possible applications of Digital Diplomacy is to use digital channels in order to promote dialogue between peoples in instances where traditional diplomacy has failed. The US State Department realized this potential when it launched Virtual Embassy Teheran in December of 2011. This website was meant to enable direct dialogue between the... Continue Reading →
Exploring Digital Diplomacy 