www.digdipblog.com
On July 17, 2025, a kiss cam at a Coldplay concert captured Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and HR chief Kristin Cabot embracing, prompting viral speculation of an affair. The lead singer’s on-stage comment, "Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy”, as well as the couple’s obvious alarm at being caught on camera,... Continue Reading →
Acknowledgement: This blog post is part of a paper that I presented at a recent workshop on humor and global politics at the University of Sheffield. I am thankful to all participants and to the organizer, Dr. Dmitry Chernobrov. Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine War, Ukraine has used social media to rally online and... Continue Reading →
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- The TikTok Teens Go To Washington (Data & Society) The Data Delusion (The New Yorker) The Vulkan Files: Secret trove offers rare look into Russian cyberwar ambitions (The Washington Post) ChatGPT... Continue Reading →
The Russia-Ukraine war has witnessed the emergence of new social media practices. The Ukrainian government, for one, has been using social media to crowdfund its armed forces and create an IT army charged with cyber-attacks against Russia. Yet the war has also seen the growing use of memes. Ukrainian diplomats and government ministries have published... Continue Reading →
It is often said that practice makes perfect. While Ukraine’s digital diplomacy is not perfect, the Ukrainian government has gained valuable expertise in using digital technologies. Indeed, since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine War, Ukraine has employed a host of innovative digital tactics. These include the creation of a hacker army; crowdfunding aid for its... Continue Reading →
Since the onset of Russia’s War against Ukraine, social media users have authored and disseminated thousands of memes. At times, memes respond to trending news stories. Such was the case with the barrage of memes depicting Ukrainian tractors towing Russian tanks and armored vehicles. Other times memes have been used to try and galvanize international... Continue Reading →
In 2012, Craig Hayden published one of the first research papers on digital diplomacy. Focusing on the emergence of social media, Hayden stated that the audiences of diplomacy were fragmented into networks of elective exposure. Some individuals learned about the world by following diplomats on Twitter, others turned to trusted bloggers while still others followed... Continue Reading →
Exploring Digital Diplomacy 