The Russian Foreign Ministry is planning to open a Facebook page in the near future and has already launched special courses to teach diplomats how to make the most of their Twitter accounts to help promote Russia’s position on the world stage, the report said.

She said that rumors in South Korea that the U.S. was exporting cows infected with mad cow disease spread through SNS, fueling anti-U.S. sentiment and nation-wide protests, and hindering free trade negotiations between the two countries. Esser said in such cases, however, the majority of the online community tends to shout down the extremists, working as a “self-correcting mechanism.”

But this week, some journalists over at the Agence France Presse have put together a neat interactive online tool, called E-Diplomacy, that shows which countries follow which others, how much social discussion is going on between various countries, diplomats, and world thinkers.

The presence and power of social networks to shape events emerged clearly during the first phase of the Arab Spring, and will continue to evolve as a tool for strategic diplomacy... The e-diplomacy hub opens a real-time window onto this world, and allows the user to interact with it as well.

The decline of Australian public diplomacy capabilities is at a critical point. At its lowest point in years, some have been looking at alternative ways for Australia to engage internationally. The Lowy Institute for International Policy, in particular, has long been lamenting that DFAT does not use digital tools or social media to help promote Australia's foreign policy interests.