Over the past five years, Twitter has become the ultimate channel for digital diplomacy for world leaders and governments. It is the prime social network used by heads of state and government in 173 countries, representing 90 percent of all United Nations (UN) member states, according to Burson-Marsteller's Twiplomacy study, an annual global survey of world leaders on social media. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi always adds a personal touch to India's diplomacy. There are his well-known bear hugs with world leaders. On his foreign trips, the social media savvy Mr Modi posted a selfie taken with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that attracted over 31 million hits on his Twitter-like Weibo account. [...] In his two years as Prime Minister, Mr Modi has sought to highlight India's soft power.

One of the leaders in the virtual race is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi [...] As prime minister, Modi also went viral with a selfie he took with China's Li keqiang, a move promptly dubbed as "selfie diplomacy."

Drafted by France to enhance the diplomatic communication and social media engagements of Uganda diplomats and foreign policy students, the French embassy has partnered with Victoria University to train diplomats in the country. The training, [...] will cover how social media is affecting diplomacy and also equip diplomats, mainly drawn from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the emerging digital concepts of diplomacy.

States should use the increasing power of social media networks and work with them to achieve foreign policy objectives. [...] However, there is much more room for states to cooperate with social media rather than seeing it as an enemy. Instead, there are ample opportunities to use social media’s features, low costs and high effectiveness as tools to promote a state’s foreign policy objectives.

Which would you rather look at? Pictures of war, conflict and violence - or hot guys eating hummus? Four students from the IDC in Herzliya are counting on you choosing the latter. That premise was the idea behind the hottest new Instagram account around: “Hot Dudes Eating Hummus.” [...] “The four of us wanted to create an apolitical branding campaign for Israel to shed some light on the humor, diversity, fun, beauty, and culture that are so vibrant and rich in this country,”