Hyseni stated that this project will involve more young people from Albania and Kosovo, who have the potential to promote their countries through implementation of their creative ideas. Albanian Deputy Foreign Minister further said that this memorandum will promote network of “digital diplomats” and will also assist in the implementation of public and cultural diplomacy.

The international security agenda and the theoretical ways to study it have expanded tremendously since the end of the Cold War. Once the strict control of the global east-west military ideological rivalry lifted, various new threats and ways to analyze them emerged. These were the issues discussed in a three-day workshop organized recently by the International Relations Council of Turkey.

There is a lot of talk about political leaders, foreign ministries and individual ambassadors in the social media, but there is a more important discussion when it comes to digital diplomacy. Rather than consuming digital content and playing with social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, the real challenge of online diplomacy is about "digital making."

The State Department wants to increase collaboration with the private sector and push for more data analytics on what is and is not working in its efforts to counter the Islamic State online, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel said at a New America Foundation event on Dec. 16.

Say the name Joshua Van Alstine in Saudi Arabia and the likely response is a blank stare. But mention his Web-born persona, Abu Muteb, and chances are good that you will get a knowing nod or a wry smile for the baby-faced American military brat. He slings Saudi­accented Arabic, wears traditional Arabian robes, mixes comedy and commentary, and may be one of the Arab world’s most improbable celebrities.

It is this particular feature of RTs, the capacity to stimulate engagement, that recommends it as an appealing metric for assessing the impact of digital diplomacy. The more RTs, the broader the MFA’s engagement with its target audiences and hence the more effective the digital strategy.