Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week – Twitter Accounts Sharing Video From Ukraine Are Suspended When They’re Needed Most (The Verge)Russia Launches Social Media Offensive Alongside Missiles (Foreign Policy)Ukraine’s Volunteer ‘IT Army’ Is Hacking in Uncharted Territory... Continue Reading →
Digital Diplomacy in #Ukraine- A Case of Strategic Transparency
The age of social media is the age of total transparency. Studies have found that the more personal a tweet or Facebook post, the more a user bares his soul, the more Likes they will garner. And as social media users wish to be seen and Liked, they become accustomed to sharing all facets of... Continue Reading →
How Digital Diplomacy is Shaping the #Ukraine Crisis
Digital diplomacy is not a new phenomenon. Beginning in the 1990s, foreign ministries (MFAs) sought to adopt and leverage digital technologies. In some cases, this was as rudimentary as using emails as opposed to diplomatic cables or creating intranets, internal networks that enabled diplomats to share information and knowledge with peers. By the early 2000’s,... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week – What on Earth is Happening in Ukraine (The Jerusalem Post)Truth Social: Banned from Twitter, Trump returns with a new platform (BBC News)What's the Most Dangerous Emerging Technology? (Gizmodo)How big technology systems... Continue Reading →
What on Earth is Happening in Ukraine?
Yesterday I set out to understand the current state of affairs in Ukraine. The day began, as always, with a barrage of memes mocking a meeting between Russian President Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The news was not all bad. Though the two gentlemen seemed distanced, Lavrov emphasized that there may still be... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week – Google, Meta and Amazon are on track to absorb more than 50% of all ad money in 2022 (DIGIDay)Facebook Has a Superuser-Supremacy Problem (The Atlantic)Seven ways to protect your child’s privacy... Continue Reading →
Will Digital Diplomacy Lead to the Extinction of Diplomats?
Dead Clade Walking. These three words shook the foundations of the scientific world several years ago. It relates to a theory which argues that some Dinosaurs survived the asteroid impact which triggered their extinction. Notably, the Dead Clade Walking theory did not argue that extinction did not occur, but rather that some Dinosaurs survived the... Continue Reading →
Are Consular Tweets a New Form of Crisis Signaling?
When scholars and pundits discuss digital diplomacy, they tend to equate this term with social media activities. Indeed, the majority of digital diplomacy studies have focused on how and why social media is used by foreign ministries (MFAs), embassies, Ambassadors and International Organisations. Studies have explored the numerous ways in which states use sites such... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week - Two-thirds of Ultra-Orthodox Israelis are online, COVID driving them to tech training (Times of Israel)How Russia tries to censor Western social media (BBC News)The worst technology of 2021 (MIT Technology Review)India... Continue Reading →
Walking a Tightrope: How Ambassadors Meet the Demands of the Digital Society
To understand digital diplomacy, one must first understand the digital society. The reason being that diplomacy is a social institution and diplomats are social beings. Processes that affect society as a whole affect diplomats and it is through diplomats that such processes permeate into MFAs giving rise to new norms, values and working routines. Sociologists... Continue Reading →