On the first Friday of each month the Interpreter publishes 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 countries are leveraging the internet for foreign policy gain.
- Yesterday on this site I argued that DFAT is in denial about its 'all gum no teeth' digital diplomacy. I argued it's time for an independent review — by experts who understand the digital space — into the type of online influence the Government needs to meet Australia's international ambitions.
- The UK FCO has done a slick re-design of its blog. A list of the FCO's blogging diplomats is here; recent posts look at whether to engage with Twitter and at getting smart about mobile video.
- Analysis of how the Israeli Government is using online networked diplomacy to promote national goals.
- The same blogger has also taken an extensive look at the state of Russia's digital diplomacy apparatus: part 1 , 2 and 3. (h/t @BrendanTN)
- Turkey has become the second most active user of Twitter's live-streaming app Periscope and three of its cities — Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir — are among the top 10 Periscope cities in the world (embassies in Ankara take note).
- This week senior Indonesian diplomats went through digital diplomacy training.
- Last week a Russian TV station tweeted a photo of US Ambassador John Tefft they alleged showed him at an opposition demonstration. The US embassy in Moscow claimed the photo was fake, meming a series of hilarious responses. Russians joined in, and then there were cats.
- The UK FCO again: now it has become the first Foreign Ministry to join Snapchat.
- How did the Russian media and Twitter bots respond to President Putin's speech at the UN General Assembly?
- Jan Melissen, from a Dutch think-tank, explains why digital diplomacy practitioners need more than a laptop and a mobile phone.
- How international organisations, including NATO, can get beyond posting news and statistics and engage on a more personal level.
- India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his live Townhall Q&A with Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook headquarters to talk at length about how social media has changed diplomacy, including his experiences with Weibo in China and tweeting with Israel’s Prime Minister: