Burson-Marsteller Twiplomacy Study Updated

Burson-Marsteller's annual Twiplomacy study 2014 has been updated to look more specifically at the connections between heads of state and governments and foreign ministers, covering a record 161 countries and 643 Twitter accounts. This video highlights some of the key findings of the study which reveals that more than half of the world’s foreign ministers from every region of the world and their institutions are active on Twitter. The report discusses how Twitter is fostering "virtual diplomatic networks" as well as social marketing campaigns that rely heavily on Hashtag Diplomacy and that posits that twitter is now an indispensable channel for public diplomacy and statecraft in general. Barack Obama, Pope Francis, and Narendra Modi, are among some of the most “followed” leaders, but does this mean that they are the most influential? The report suggests that one way to gauge influence is through a count of retweets. Another way is to see how “well-connected” the tweeps are. Also important is how political leaders use this medium to interact with the audience rather than one-way broadcasting. 

To read the full report, click here.