From Tweets to TikTok: The Evolution of Digital Diplomacy in Social Media
What is Digital Diplomacy?
Digital Diplomacy is the practice of using digital technologies, including social media platforms such as X (ex-Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram, among others, to conduct diplomatic activities and achieve political objectives. It has the purpose of engaging with domestic and local audiences, extending diplomatic communication beyond traditional government-to-government channels.
Digital Diplomacy allows governments and diplomats to extend their reach, shape public opinion, and disseminate information. Digital Diplomacy has become, over the years, a more important and relevant component as it offers the opportunity to connect and influence a broader set of stakeholders.
According to the Digital Diplomacy Index (DDI), the United States is the country with the highest DDI score. Followed by Russia, India, Indonesia, and France. The DDI provides an objective perspective of the G20 countries’ influence on the international relations unfolded in X (ex-Twitter).
The Role of Social Media Platforms in Digital Diplomacy
X (ex-Twitter) and Facebook are currently the most used social media platforms by diplomats globally. Surprisingly, LinkedIn is one of the least used platforms for Digital Diplomacy according to Matthias Lüfkens, social media architect at DigiTips. Users tend to put everything on these social networks: thoughts, opinions, and new life events. This ‘sharing life’ trend has led to an increased interest in the lives of public figures. Governments and global leaders seized the opportunity to create communication strategies and campaigns that can connect, engage, and influence a broader audience.
“It is not confidential when U.S. President, Donald Trump shares his daily tweets with the public for every activity that he is carrying out. He let his followers share and retweet any important meeting that he was involved, and the subjects that they were discussing. (…). Trump’s tweets are often retweeted and shared with others; consequence spread his message.” (3) (PDF) Digital Diplomacy: The Role Of Social Media. October 12th, 2023.
The Rise of TikTok in Digital Diplomacy
Elon Musk acquired X (ex-Twitter) in 2022 and quickly brought tremendous changes and new policies for Digital Diplomacy. Some of those changes were not accepted by their users and more than half of the top 1000 advertisers stopped spending on the platform according to Pathmatics published January 17th, 2023. At the same time, more than 1M users left the platform by deactivating or suspending their accounts. Some of these accounts were governments and global leaders who migrated to other social network platforms. Bluesky, Mastodon, Instagram, and TikTok were the prime beneficiaries. TikTok is the platform that gained the most popularity among Twitter users for its raw honesty and diverse audience.
Map about global leaders and governments verified by countries in TikTok by Andreas Sandre. February 15th, 2021.
The map above by Andreas Sandre, Press and Public Affairs Officer at the Embassy of Italy in the US, showcases countries worldwide where there is a TikTok presence either from a government member (current or former), the government itself, or a government ministry. These users are official accounts that have been verified by the platform.
According to data from the Pew Research Center, number of people getting news on the platform has tripled from 3% in 2020 to 10% in 2022.
Public opinion about Digital Diplomacy in social media
In October 2023, a student group from GEM MS Digital Strategy Management conducted interviews with thirteen participants at the GEM Campus in Paris. These individuals, aged between 20 to 26 years old, from five different countries, offered a diverse range of perspectives.
To get an overall perspective on how these people perceived Digital Diplomacy on social media we asked two main questions:
- Which social media platforms do you use to follow politicians, government accounts, ONGs, and political activists?
- What type of content do you prefer to see on these accounts?
In the graphic below, we can see that:
- 31% of the participants don’t follow political accounts and even try to ignore them.
- X (ex-Twitter) and Instagram (IG) are the most popular platforms to follow diplomacy.
- TikTok does not have much relevance when it comes to diplomacy.
The graphic below answers our second question and leads to the following conclusions:
- The majority of participants expressed fatigue with the inauthentic and insincere content produced by politicians.
- Video-related platforms are the ones that participants keep mentioning as being particularly relevant to debates.
- They particularly value video content that provides direct and straightforward information.
The Future of Digital Diplomacy
Digital Diplomacy is evolving at a rapid pace and following overall social media trends. Global leaders and governments are sharing ideas and news the same way all celebrities and public figures are expressing their views on social platforms.
Our research shows that users tend to gravitate more toward video content, which explains the fascination around TikTok and its rapidly growing audience. Global leaders are already following this trend. For instance, French President Emmanuel Macron has publicly addressed the French people in video format on his social media platforms, including TikTok, on multiple occasions. He now has over 4 million followers on TikTok and 3,3 million on Instagram. Politicians have full control over their storyline when using social media which gives a more authentic message, in contrast with.
Another interesting finding is that discussing political matters is a touchy subject for the French and a significant portion of the participants maintain friendly associations with charity-related organizations on social media.
“It gives politicians a new way to communicate, but above engaging people and listening to what they have to say. instead of just making a speech and waiting for the papers. which actually opens up our politics. I think it could be a force for good. “
David Cameron’s take on social media in 2009.
What we can do?
Embrace your role as a global citizen and use social media as a tool to contribute to a better, more connected world.
Share your thoughts, perspectives, and ideas on critical global issues. Your voice matters! Comment, like, and share content that promotes international cooperation and understanding. Use relevant hashtags to join conversations and foster dialogues.
About this article
This article has been written by a group of students at the Grenoble Ecole de Management’s Advanced Masters in Digital Strategy Management. As part of a content creation assignment, students are given the task of writing articles based on their digital interests and disseminating the articles online. Articles are marked but we make minimal changes to the content. Thanks for reading! James Barisic, Programme Director, MS DSM.
