New app enhances the Beijing Forbidden City experience and puts China's ancient history in a very modern context.

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."

Current attempts at virtual diplomacy have little government backing and are limited in scope. They are directed mainly at public diplomacy (PD), not official state-to-state channels. Some governments have attempted to change diplomatic conditions through virtual PD campaigns and the use of social media. But, crucially, the public does not decide to go to war, even in a democracy.

Last weekend I partied in Romania. I had been invited there by a game developer, eRepublik, to attend an event celebrating the fifth anniversary of their game (also called eRepublik). eRepublik is one of my favourite consulting clients, so I was happy to be invited to participate in the festivities in downtown Bucharest and see what they had been up to.

Internet users trying to access a new U.S. "virtual embassy"' from Iran on Wednesday said they were redirected to a Web page offering links to Iranian news, cultural and religious sites. The United States launched the site on Tuesday, saying it wanted to promote understanding between the two countries.

Two weeks ago, students from the Adobe Youth Voices Peapod Academy in Redwood City, California participated in a virtual exchange with AYV & iEARN students in Pakistan. The event, one of the first in a campaign spearheaded by iEARN to connect classrooms around the globe, has had a lasting impact on students in California...