start up digital diplomacy
DESCRIPTION
Presentation delivered at the Social Networking Conference in Beverly Hills, CA.TRANSCRIPT
Start-Up Digital Diplomacy
Innovating Israel’s Engagement with Global Society
@IsraelLADillon
Start-Up Digital Diplomacy
The story of how one foreign mission innovated its diplomatic engagement with global society
from the bottom-up.
Start-Up Digital Diplomacy
• How Diplomacy Works• Creating Digital Diplomats• Citizen Ambassadors: Crowdsourcing Public
Diplomacy• Current Challenges• The Future
HOW DIPLOMACY WORKSStart-Up Digital Diplomacy
How Diplomacy Works
• Foreign Mission: Consulate General of Israel, Los Angeles (covers southwest US)
• Nine Consulates Across the US, plus Embassy in DC
• Primary Mission: Represent Israeli interests and policies to the United States to government and society
• Limited human resource environment
How Diplomacy Works
• Composition of a Foreign Mission:– Political Office–Media Relations– Academic Affairs– Community Affairs– Cultural Affairs– Economic Mission
How Diplomacy Works
Government to Government&
Public Diplomacy
Government to Government
• Technical Exchanges– Homeland Security best practices/technology– Environmental Technology (solar/wind/water)
• Economic Cooperation• Political Briefings– Ensuring that members of Congress understand
international issues. Affecting how they vote on bills.
Public Diplomacy
• Academic Engagement (students/professors)• Community Relations• Press and Media• Culture (events/exchanges)
Traditional Diplomacy
• In-Person Meetings and Briefings• Print Newspaper Op-Eds• Large Scale Events
Internal Information Flow
• Diplomatic Information flows two ways:– Government position/policy flows from national
capital to foreign missions.– Local information flows to the capital from foreign
missions:• Political• Social moods• Economic opportunities
Public Information Flow
• Public diplomatic information flows from the foreign mission out to relevant segments of society.
• Typically using traditional techniques.• For Israel, this interaction is being innovated
from the bottom-up – from diplomatic officers rather than top down from the Ministry.
CREATING DIGITAL DIPLOMATSStart-Up Digital Diplomacy
The Space
• Foreign Mission Website (Core)• Email• Social Media
Branding The Space
• Consistent Brand Presence:– Visual standards established for all channels– Content standards (textual, voice, etc)
• This practice tends to be rare for government.
Utilizing Diverse Social Channels
• Facebook / MySpace• Twitter• YouTube / UStream• Other content sharing services
Disruptive Digital Diplomats
Social media disrupts international relations.
Israel uses existing disruptive tools, is developing new ones, and embracing disruptive agents.
Expanding Engagement
• Key Innovation: Expanding reach to distant community segments– Rural– Broader demographic appeal– Broader ideological appeal
Expanding Engagement
• Key Innovation: Emphasize personality over institution
• Enable conversation rather than headline blasting
Expanding Engagement
• Key Innovation: Social media allows for 24hr anytime anywhere diplomatic interactions
The Digital Diplomat and the Flotilla
• Rich content and detailed material available on the foreign mission website
• Twitter enabled real-time updates plus mass interaction/correcting misconceptions
• Facebook enabled real-time updates, detailed reports posted, interaction with friends/fans
• Briefings with bloggers • All content is shareable
The Digital Diplomat
• One diplomatic officer can literally reach tens of thousands of citizens around the world without leaving their desk
Digital Diplomats and Information Networks
• Recall the diplomatic officer's specialized functions
• Social media becomes an up to the second intelligence resource
• Digital Diplomats establish their own specialized information networks on Facebook and Twitter
• Enables real time actionable intelligence
Citizen Ambassadors: Crowdsourcing Public Diplomacy
Start-Up Digital Diplomacy
Citizen Ambassador Portal
• Online community for interested citizens• Objective is to inform citizens and provide the
tools to inform their friends and family• Tapping into social trust• Allows for Israel-focused social interaction• Enables interactive rich content experience
Citizen Ambassador Portal
• Why utilize a custom social network over other platforms?– Allows us to gain a clearer picture of society:
demographics, interests, etc– Enables more focused and targeted interaction– The CAP is Facebook enabled for ease of use
CURRENT CHALLENGESStart-Up Digital Diplomacy
Current Challenges
• INTEGRATED INFORMATION FLOW– Internal communications: Dispersing rich content
from HQ to foreign missions around the world and vice versa
– External communications: Managing workflow among diplomatic officers and among various social networks. Twitter text vs. Facebook text
– Integrated Social Steaming: Combining information networks for easy consumption
Current Challenges
• Government Transparency = More Data• Current information management challenges
compounded• Wide ranging implications: Political support,
social support, international investment
THE FUTUREStart-Up Digital Diplomacy
The Future
• Increasing transparency (more and more data)• Increased citizen engagement• More informed global society (no islands)• Streamlined diplomacy