On the first Friday of each month the Interpreter will publish Digital Diplomacy links instead of the weekly Digital Asia links. As Australian digital diplomacy strives to catch-up to the rest of the world, these links will highlight the most creative and effective ways in which countries are leveraging the internet for foreign policy gain.
- Prime Minister Modi's Weibo diplomacy is winning friends in China, with the Global Times claiming it is helping build Sino-India understanding.
- Should Ambassadors tweet in addition to their embassies? This analysis says 'yes'.
- Foreign Minister Bishop's world-first 'emoji diplomacy' wins her a spot in this digital diplomacy timeline.
- Angus Campbell, Chief of the Australian Army, has joined Twitter.
- A list of the top global digital diplomacy influencers on Twitter (full network analysis graphed here).
- Digital advocate and UK Ambassador Tom Fletcher farewells Lebanon after four years with a beautiful and frank blog post that would never have made it out of the DFAT clearance process.
- Canada's Foreign Ministry calls out the President of Burundi on Twitter.
- The Foreign Ministry of the Netherlands has launched a social media atlas which geo-locates its almost 600 accounts and ranks them in terms of popularity.
- This Huffington Post article argues diplomats need to move beyond online platforms to deliver soft power.
- Canada's Embassy in Beijing gets creative in promoting and selling Canadian lobsters online (and in doing so undercuts Australia's 'overly expensive lobsters').
- Interested in tuning in to media briefings given by India's Foreign Secretary? Podcasts available here.
- A new think-tank report commissioned by the foreign ministries of Finland and Belgium notes a shift towards online-offline blends of 'hybrid diplomacy.'
- More cartoon diplomacy from Israel's Foreign Ministry with the release of 'Iran is like ISIS, just much bigger'.
- It appears China is also venturing into cartoon diplomacy with this animated short explaining the significance of the BRICS (look out for Modi & selfie stick at 2:08):
