Ahead of his visit to China—from May 14 to 16—India’s social-media friendly Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the Chinese social media platform Weibo to connect with Chinese citizens. (Hello China! Looking forward to interacting with Chinese friends through Weibo)”, Prime Minister said through his social media account.

Prime minister Narendra Modi is the third most followed and fifth most influential leader globally, according to a new report called Twiplomacy 2015, a study of world leaders on Twitter Inc by global public relations and communications firm Burson-Marsteller. The study identified 669 Twitter accounts of heads of state and government, foreign ministers and their institutions in 166 countries worldwide to analyse each leader’s Twitter profile, tweet history, and connections with the others.

Plenty of diplomatic deals get done on the margins of global get-togethers, but one conducted on Twitter in 2014 made Prime Minister Stephen Harper a digital star among his fellow world leaders.(...) Most world leaders use the social media tool to broadcast specific messages; Harper is among many who don't generally reply when messages are sent their way.

President Obama’s newly installed defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, toured Silicon Valley last week to announce a new military strategy for computer conflict, starting the latest Pentagon effort to invest in promising start-ups and to meet with engineers whose talent he declared the Pentagon desperately needed in fending off the nation’s adversaries.

Australia's approach to digital diplomacy is second-rate and entirely inadequate for a nation that sees itself as 'a top 20 country'. Despite an expanded social media presence, Australia continues to lag far behind other countries – large and small – that are investing serious resources into building up their digital diplomacy capabilities.

Taylor Owen says he sees the theme of this year’s conference, “Media and Foreign Policy in the Digital Age” as a unique opportunity to prove his theory that many states try to misuse digital freedom for their own purposes. “Digital diplomacy presents a challenge for the nation state,” he says. He adds that the same governments that are seeking to enable free speech in other countries are at the same time rapidly expanding the surveillance state.

After a decade of swimming against the tide, the Australian Government is slowly engaging in the world of digital diplomacy. (...) Today, digital diplomacy is a foreign policy essential. We live in a world where state and non-state entities all compete for influence and power in the same online space. 

The #BringBackOurGirls movement picked up momentum before ultimately fading from the international spotlight amidst criticism it was nothing more than "hashtag diplomacy." Indeed, most of the captured girls remain in the Islamic terror group's clutches.