“This is a key point for digital diplomacy – the importance of reaching a broader audience, not just the same old people who usually follow foreign affairs.” As such, top diplomats are increasingly holding live, virtual chats on social networks to engage with people whom they would otherwise never meet.

In the near future, no one will be able to become a leader without digital followers, and no diplomat will be well-positioned to represent his or her country if he or she does not personally engage on social networks. And it is not the size of the followership that matters, but the quality of the conversations.

The issue of whether U.S. agents on the ground were speaking on their own authority or representing the Obama administration policy isn't an academic fine point. It raises big questions about how a new form of diplomacy, a kind conducted by way of digital media, subverts and overturns traditional ways of carrying out a critical governmental function... Digital diplomacy can thrive only if foreign ministries accept some uncertainty over what to do and how to behave.

Embassies perform a crucial role in maintaining diplomatic ties with foreign governments, but their function is to maintain economic, political and cultural engagement with people living in distant lands. There have been a few experiments with virtual embassies -- the United States has one for Iran.

The department, which has been embracing digital technologies like Twitter and Facebook to deliver services, engage with people and to extend UK influence, has seen ministers including William Hague directly praise the role social media can play in the day to day functions of the department.

The campaign team behind the incumbent Transnistrian president, Yevgeny Shevchuk, appreciated the strength of the internet during the 2011 presidential election, and it is believed that the use of online social networks contributed to Shevchuk’s unexpected victory over Igor Smirnov,