Candidates vying to become the next United Nations Secretary General are taking questions from the public via social media and answering concerns from member states. The five permanent Security Council members - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – normally chose the UN chief in a secretive process. But this time, part of that process is happening on live television in a debate broadcast globally by Al Jazeera.

Last week, as news of Brexit broke, foreign ministries throughout the world took to social media to comment on the UK’s decision to leave the EU. The German foreign ministry responded by changing its Twitter profile picture/cover photo from an image of the foreign minister to the EU flag. [...] An intriguing question is how do MFAs use their Twitter profile pictures/cover photos. Are these used to promote the national brand, or to project a certain institutional image or perhaps to make political statements as was the case with the Germany’s foreign ministry?

Public opinion matters more than ever, even in authoritarian states. Prosperity, better education, urbanization, mass communication, and social media increase awareness of how government actions can affect the interests of groups and individuals, even beyond the domestic arena. 

The Public Diplomacy program aims to combat the BDS movement and the delegitimization of Israel through uniting a global community of pro-Israel activists on social media in a coordinated effort to inform and influence people on Israel.

New Zealand diplomats remain "sceptical of megaphone diplomacy'' but are increasingly making use of social media, although not in an "indiscriminate'' way. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade chief executive Dr Brook Barrington made that point in Dunedin yesterday in an opening address to more than 100 people, at the University of Otago's 51st annual foreign policy school. Dr Barrington's address was devoted to "The Art of Diplomacy in a Digital World''.

Foreign policy was once the bastion of the elites. In military, diplomatic and humanitarian affairs, nation-states and the small group of individuals and institutions that governed their actions used primarily kinetic and broadcast channels to influence the actions of others. Control was largely exerted through hierarchical structures, and collective action through industrial organizations. Digital technology has radically shifted this reality by flattening the operating environment in which global affairs is conducted.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been a boxer, a nightclub bouncer, a world leader - and now, a cartoon book character. Mr Trudeau appears on the cover of an issue of Marvel's "Civil War II: Choosing Sides", due to be released on 31 August. Clad in a Maple-leaf tank top, boxing gloves and shorts, he is surrounded by members of a Canadian superhero group. In the story, he appears to advise the superhero team.