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On the 7th of May 2014, the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama uploaded a Selfie of herself holding a sign saying "#BringBackOurGilrs" onto her twitter account. The Selfie was part of social media campaign calling for the release of 250 Nigerian school girls taken captive by the Islamist Boko Hraam group. https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/464148654354628608/photo/1... Continue Reading →
On the 22nd of January 2014, world leaders met at the city of Geneva in Switzerland in an attempt to resolve the Syrian Civil War. Nearly one year later, in April of 2015, world leaders convened 64 kilometers northeast of Geneva, in the city of Lausanne, in an attempt to resolve another Mideast crisis- Iran's... Continue Reading →
Digital diplomacy may be viewed as a multi-faceted form of diplomacy. As a tool for public diplomacy, it may be used to communicate directly with foreign populations thereby facilitating the acceptance of one's foreign policy. As a nation branding tool, it may be used to shape and manage a nation's global image. Digital diplomacy may also... Continue Reading →
Framing theory deals with the manner in which issues, events, and actors are portrayed in a communicative text. Framing studies often focus on mass media frames given the assumption that the media influences public opinion. Robert Entman views framing as the result of selection and emphasis. To frame, according to Entman, is "to select... Continue Reading →
Public diplomacy and nation branding activities often require close cooperation between numerous stakeholders. MFAs are in a unique position to coordinate public diplomacy and nation branding efforts as they may work horizontally with other governmental branches, PR firms and corporations and vertically with their network of embassies located all over the world. In the age... Continue Reading →
When studying the Cold War, one cannot help feeling overwhelmed by the amount of acronyms used by both the US and the USSR. From NATO and ICBMS (Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles) to SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) and VOA (Voice of America), acronyms seem to have played a major role in this prolonged global conflict.... Continue Reading →
I have often wondered if a foreign ministry's decision to follow another foreign ministry on twitter or Facebook is regarded as a political decision. In attempt to answer this question, I decided to search for "follow-mies", countries that are enemies in the go-political world but that follow one another on twitter. This was made possible... 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 →
Exploring Digital Diplomacy 