Ever wondered which world leader is most followed on Facebook, or Twitter? Should we care? Well, it would seem that the explosion of social media in the last few years and its ability to reach previously inaccessible audiences has not escaped the attention of government leaders.

In recent days, India has reached out to its Middle Eastern partners in a major way. Last week, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj went to Bahrain to attend the first ministerial meeting of the India-Arab League Cooperation Forum. 

French President François Hollande arrives in India for a three-day visit. Mr. Hollande will be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day parade on Tuesday [...] the French President appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi “for his diplomacy reflecting both a sense of proportion and a strong determination. He recently took important steps to engage in a dialogue with the political leadership in Pakistan.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the new "Start-Up India" scheme to promote and nurse entrepreneurship in the country ensuring minimum interference from the government with attractive tax incentives.

The link between the business of diplomacy and the diplomacy of business is as old as the link between trade and flag. More recent diplomatic history is replete with examples of businessmen building bridges between leaders of adversarial nations.[...] business has helped oil the wheels of diplomacy, just as diplomacy seeks to oil those of commerce.

“Among the decisions taken was that ties between the two countries and people-to-people contacts would be strengthened so that the atmosphere can be created in which the peace process can move forward.” [...] The two leaders called for ‘innovative diplomacy’ to resolve the thorny issues between their countries, said a Prime Minister House official, who remained with Nawaz throughout Friday. 

Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's sudden stopover at Lahore to greet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday as innovative diplomacy, home minister Rajnath Singh said: "It is our Indian culture that for the first time during swearing in of the new government, head of states of various countries were invited."

Some have called it “dargah diplomacy”; you could also describe it as the trans-border politics of pilgrimage. By whatever name it goes, the welcome emphasis on “religious tourism” is one of the more interesting features of renewed engagement between India and Pakistan.