The United Nations Global Pulse initiative on Friday announced a partnership with Twitter that will provide the United Nations with access to the platform's data tools to support efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in September last year. [...] UN Global Pulse is an innovation initiative of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that harnesses data science and analytics for sustainable development and humanitarian action.

The Australian government’s Public Diplomacy Strategy points to the importance of “diaspora diplomacy”. It promises to take steps to “engage diaspora communities drawing on their linguistic skills, social networks and cultural community connections”, by making active use of “online and social media as public diplomacy tools”.

For the people of the Balkans the social media coincides with the period of democratic transition, with parliamentarian democracy, political pluralism, freedom and human rights, free market economy and the opening up of Euro-Atlantic integration. In this premature phase the social media entered with a great speed in the reality of the Balkans. 

This week many world leaders came together in New York City for the GODAN Summit to examine progress that has been made and challenges that remain in the global fight to end hunger. The U.S. Department of State’s Special Representative for Global Food Security, Dr. Nancy Stetson, joined the conference to talk about new innovations in food security and the use of data. 

On Sept. 15, film star and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio unveiled Global Fishing Watch for the public at the US State Department’s Our Ocean 2016 conference. [...] The goal? Get the public engaged in illegal fishing, which makes up 35 percent of the global wild marine catch, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Contemplating Russian nuclear threats during the Cold War, the strategist Herman Kahn calibrated a macabre ladder of escalation, with 44 rungs ranging from “Ostensible Crisis” to “Spasm or Insensate War.” In the era of cyberwarfare that’s now dawning, the rules of the game haven’t yet been established with such coldblooded precision. That’s why this period of Russian-American relations is so tricky. The strategic framework that could provide stability hasn’t been set.

The use of social networks to reach the public needs to be prioritised by the Vietnamese government and related agencies, especially during a period where the country is increasingly integrating into the global community.

Social media does more than share information about Syrian refugees; it offers ways you can help them. Here are five ways that highlight how social media supported Syrian refugees. [...] Since the crisis began, the U.S. has contributed more than $5.1 billion in humanitarian assistance to people affected by the conflict in Syria.