hashtag diplomacy
As Scotland's September referendum on independence approaches, groups both for and against separation from the United Kingdom are making efforts to appeal to undecided voters. But one particular advertisement has caused a fury of commotion online. Scottish Twitter users had mostly negative initial reactions to the advertisement, which was widely considered condescending and outdated.
Why? Because it’s becoming pretty obvious that Isis’s most effective weapon is the smartphone. The group has been using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to great effect, to create a digital broth that has both panicked and fascinated us. Their graphic videos make front page news and their deranged tweets sway international diplomacy. Social media strategists round the world must be watching in awe.
As U.S. airstrikes pound Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant-held positions in Iraq, Americans and supporters of the radical group have begun trading threats on social media. Under the hashtag #AmessagefromISIStoUS on microblogging site Twitter, ISIS fans shared photos of dead U.S. army soldiers, and the burning twin towers of 9/11.
This week, the US-Africa Leaders Summit took over Foggy Bottom to tackle issues of development, human rights, good governance, and economic growth.
In the case of the Nigerian girls, they may eventually be rescued. But if they are, it won't be the result of hashtag diplomacy; rather, it will be due to strong and serious diplomacy conducted by brave men and women willing to confront evil head-on.
In this short clip, two Palestinian-Syrian girls in Toronto, Canada called on strangers to "hug a terrorist." Produced by the social media activist group Like for Syria, the video portrays two young girls hugging people to inform pedestrians about the escalating death toll in Gaza. They asked people for hugs, holding a banner that read “Hug A Terrorist” and recorded the reactions of people.
Journalist Sulome Anderson, who is half Lebanese, kisses her Jewish boyfriend in a viral photograph posted on Facebook and Twitter -- part of an explosive social media campaign spreading the message: "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies."
Israel's Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer(link is external) landed himself in hot water Thursday when his Twitter Q&A #AskDermer(link is external) was hijacked by Palestine activists. The Q&A was held amid escalating violence between Israel and Hamas forces in Gaza.