Digital diplomacy on Medium
January 2017 roundup of recent posts on foreign policy and diplomacy.
2016 has drawn to a close. It was a very eventful year in terms of digital diplomacy and many world leaders, politicians, and diplomats have joined Medium with posts ranging from terrorism, the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean region, innovation, and much more.
This is the first roundup of 2017 — the seventh in the series. So far my goal has been to collect experiences, understand how foreign policy players address storytelling and content on Medium, and formulate best practices for the use of the platform in the diplomatic realm.
My takeaways from these first six months of the Digital Diplomacy on Medium series:
- Long-form content seems to be most effective when it challenges ideas and when it provides more personal accounts and stories, op-ed style.
- Because Medium readers appear most interested in personal profiles as oppose to company/brand accounts, trust becomes an important part when it comes to building an active audience . The platform does not offer a verified badge or verification process yet — although opening an account on Medium using a Twitter verified account seems restricted to the owner of the Twitter account.
- When creating content for Medium, consider that the platform “doesn’t need to be the thing you check all day, every day — we’re not looking for addiction,” as founder and CEO Ev Williams explained to The Guardian. “We’re just looking to give people one or two of what they think are the most important things on a daily basis. Things that they care about, things that change how they think about the world.”
- Storytelling in the political and diplomatic realms is not only about soundbites and live videos, as the many power players that actively joined the platform in the past few months show. They include the United Nations, Argentinian president Mauricio Macri and his foreign minister Susana Malcorra (via CancilleríaArgentina), former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, former French economy minister and presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, and the Albanian MFA 🇦🇱.
- Visual and multimedia content, including images and embeds, are as important as words. This is especially true for public diplomacy whose goals are — among others — to provide a context and to outreach to audiences across languages and cultural barriers.
- Medium publications are key to expand your reach and build networks of readers and writers.
Now, this series and this publication need to evolve in order to become a useful tool for storytellers and innovators. Got ideas for future posts? Or you want to write about digital diplomacy and technology in foreign policy? Ping me here or on Twitter, write a response to this post, or submit your post by email.
1. THE U.N. ON MEDIUM
Among the latest debuts on Medium, the United Nations launches on Human Rights Day 2016 with a post bylined by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and a new publication titled We The Peoples.
We know that humanity will only survive, and thrive, if we seek solutions together. But instead, humane values are under attack — and so we feel overwhelmed, unsure what to do or where to turn.
Since its debut, the UN has been very active on the platform with updates on the Syrian crisis and posts on the organization’s use of social media by Nancy Groves and Charlotte Scaddan 🙄.
2. ALEPPO
As the situation in East Aleppo deteriorates, Ariel Azoff, head of social impact at Medium, posts a collection of thoughts, condemnation, analysis, and calls to action for the Syrian city and the people trapped inside. The short list includes posts by International Rescue Committee president David Miliband, Nobel Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai, fundraising site Razoo (see donation box below), UNICEF’s country representative in Syria Hanaa Singer, the Atlantic Council’s @DFRLab, and US senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham.
3. BIDEN AND TRUDEAU
Outgoing US Vice President Biden highlights the relationships between the United States and Canada and the future ahead in a post with his remarks in Ottawa at a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The changes that are going to take place are going to be astronomical. The progress that’s going to be made. But it’s going to take men like you, Mr. Prime Minister, who understand it has to fit within the context of a liberal economic order, a liberal international order. And there’s basic rules of the road.
4. CLIMATE CHANGE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, writes on the pages of The Elders about the challenges posed by the current wave of political and economic uncertainty and implication for the fight against climate change.
All across the world, we see rising levels of xenophobia and intolerance and a narrowing of political vision focused on parochial introspection. Public discourse is increasingly tarnished by harsh and ugly rhetoric, especially online where women and minority groups are targeted for cowardly abuse. This dangerous rise of “uncivil society” threatens us all.
5. WORLD AIDS DAY
The incredible curation team at Medium honors World Aids Day with a collection of stories titled “It isn’t over.” The collection includes posts by the World Food Programme (WFP), journalists Nathan Collins, Stephanie Buck, and Andy Kopsa, political and community organizer Sarah Turbow, Gates Foundation Africa director Dr Ayo Ajayi, and activist Brandon Plain.
6. DAVOS 2017
Mike Hanley, head of digital communications at the World Economic Forum (WEF), highlights the themes of the upcoming Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland (January 17–20, 2017) and invites everybody to engage with the thousands of world leaders in attendance and be part of the discussion via digital and social media.
Now, more than ever, it is crucial for the global leaders in Davos to hear and respond to the diverse challenges faced by people across the globe.
WEF’s web editor Jenny Soffel explains in a Medium post how to follow Davos 2017 online with hashtag #wef17.
7. THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM GOES ‘GLOCAL’
Khalid Koser, executive director of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF), bylines a post on the Medium pages of the Embassy of Switzerland in the USA on the nature of GCERF, a public-private partnership established to serve as the first global effort to support local, community-level initiatives aimed at strengthening resilience against violent extremist agendas, and the concept of global power for local communities — which many refers to as glocal.
The private sector has a clear business interest in preventing violent extremism.
8. UNICEF @ 70
UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, celebrates its 70th anniversary with an emotional collection of photos from its early years and photos from today.
9. #FREETOBEHOME
In a post signed by Ambassador Samantha Power, US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, the U.S. Department of State launches #FreeToBeHome, a social media campaign that highlights the struggle of political prisoners around the world and the role of diplomacy. Assistant secretary for the bureau of democracy, human rights and labor Tom Malinowski also posted on the campaign.
So throughout this holiday season, the United States government will be profiling the cases of prisoners unjustly held around the world and the families they leave behind. The stories of these individuals will highlight the broader struggle faced by so many families of political prisoners, who have to commemorate countless family occasions with loved ones behind bars.
10. 2016 IN REVIEW
Using data and charts, Tariq Khokhar and Donna Barne of the World Bank provide a look at “some of the challenges we face but also the progress we’ve made toward a more peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable future.”
OTHER POSTS OF INTEREST
- Tips, tricks, and stories by Medium Staff: head of community engagement elizabeth tobey on posting photos and images on Medium; Thomas Gaudex of Medium France on how to use Unsplash to create compelling and beautiful stories; Jennifer Dennard, organizational design and culture lead, on diversity and inclusion; head of content development Kate Lee on everything that happened on Medium in November 2016; product lead Brian Ellin ☕️ on the latest updates to Medium’s iOS and Android apps; and senior editor Bobbie Johnson on the role of editors and editing.
- Rob Solomon, CEO of GoFundMe, reflects on a year of giving.
- Denise Law, community editor at The Economist, on the lessons and predictions from the publication’s social media team.
- Arancha González Laya, executive director of the International Trade Centre explains in a post published by the World Economic Forum how trade gives people a tangible interest in each other’s economic wellbeing and growth.
- Ambassador Michael McFaul, director of FSI Stanford and former US Ambassador to Russia, on shaping and constraining the next administration’s foreign policy agenda; and Stanford Global Studies alumnus Srihari Seshasayee on India as a potential new ally and economic market for Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, UKUN_NewYork Permanent Representative, on genocide.
- Ambassador Daniel Baer, US Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and head of the U.S. Mission to OSCE, on reaching consensus after a tumultuous 2016.
- The German Marshall Fund on its Mediterranean Strategy Group (MSG) meeting in Turin, Italy, which focused on how digital technology impacts the Mediterranean region.
- The US Embassy Ghana on using data to change the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
- The Embassy of Austria, Embassy of Belgium, Embassy of Bulgaria, Embassy of Croatia, EmbassyofCyprus, Czech Embassy in DC, Embassy of Estonia, Embassy of Finland, French Embassy U.S., GermanyinUSA, Embassy of Greece in DC, and GCSCI have so far been featured in EUintheUS’ #SisterCitySunday new campaign on Medium in partnership with SisterCitiesInternational.
