There are government agencies such as the police forces in Delhi, Indore and Meerut which use Facebook creatively to track crimes and keep citizens informed . The ministry of external affairs has come in for praise for using Twitter as a tool for public diplomacy. But such examples are few and far between.

The ways that humans communicate with each other are diversifying and changing rapidly. Some people think if a golden era when Voice of America was on shortwave radio and there were the huddled masses listening and then looking for the secret police to knock on the door and hide the radio. That's not where we're at now.

Over the past two years, Ross, 39, has been incorporating those digital platforms into the daily lives of U.S. diplomats. Dozens of U.S. ambassadors around the world now use Facebook and Twitter, and the State Department boasts nine foreign-language Twitter accounts. These technologies, Ross argues, give the U.S. a new suite of tools for exerting "smart power" to advance its interests.

The relevant Chinese government departments should think about how to deal with overseas publicity and public diplomacy in Vietnam: winning hearts and minds, especially of the post-Vietnam-War generation, who have a much more favorable impression of the U.S., than of China.

As anticorruption crusader Anna Hazare put an end to his 13-day hunger strike on Sunday, tens of thousands of citizens celebrated what many described as the triumph of his anticorruption movement. Bollywood also joined the celebrations. From superstar Amitabh Bachchan toBollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar, Twitter was flooded with posts congratulating the 73-year-old Gandhian activist.

Staff members in Israeli missions worldwide are learning how to bolster their messages on the internet and social networks in preparation for September's UN vote on the Palestinian statehood bid...some 60 staff members of embassies in Europe and representatives of Jewish organizations are taking part in a seminar in Brussels which trains them on the combination between public diplomacy and online media.

The diplomats are learning how to use the advantages of online media in such networks as Facebook and Twitter as well as PR activity in campuses. They are also learning how to use search engines to increase the exposure of Israel's messages.

Digital diplomats broadcast messages and multimedia, attract commenters to specially designed forums in foreign languages and monitor trending topics in an attempt to take the world’s pulse. But whether conducted online or off, public diplomacy has always been an inexact science. how do diplomats know whether their efforts are paying off?