A musical homage to President Xi Jinping of China and his wife, Peng Liyuan, has circulated widely online in recent days, a sign of how the public face of Chinese leadership has changed since Mr. Xi took office two years ago.

Much of American public diplomacy, like much of the rest of U.S. foreign policy, is reactive. When a crisis erupts, policymakers respond as best they can to limit the damage. In this social media era, they are often outpaced by those who are better prepared to use new communication tools to deliver their messages.

Few hours before making it official from the US side, Modi had hit his favourite Twitter informing the public about his invitation to US President Obama, saying: “This Republic Day, we hope to have a friend over…invited President Obama to be the 1st US President to grace the occasion as Chief Guest.”

S torytelling and plays trump smartphones to deliver messages on Ebola in some communities, illustrating how new technologies have their limits in aid delivery, humanitarian experts said on Wednesday.

Hamas affiliated social media exploded Tuesday with violent and anti-Semitic cartoons praising the terrorist attack that killed four people Tuesday morning at a synagogue in Jerusalem.

Young Australians travelling overseas to take up arms with the militant group Islamic State have naively bought into a fictional fantasy fuelled by social media, a human rights activist says.

The campaign asks that people take a picture of themselves, waving the South Sudanese flag; post it on facebook with the hashtag #waveSouthSudan; add reasons why they are proud of South Sudan;  and encourage a friend to do the same.