Aamir Khan may have staged a soft power coup in China. His earthy, grassroots advocacy in Dangal of gender rights, set in semi-urban but aspirational India, has struck an emotional chord with a young, curious, tech-savvy generation of the “Middle Kingdom”.Netizens have already set alight Weibo — the Chinese equivalent of Twitter — with fulsome praise of Mr. Khan, and the breezy, non-condescending, but powerful messaging of his film. One viewer has praised the actor as India’s national treasure.

Is an alien mollusk species choking your shoreline? Don’t despair. China’s ravenous, inventive internet users have an answer to unwelcome shellfish.They’re ready to devour them. The Danish Embassy in Beijing has been absorbing that lesson since it shared a report online this week about a plague of Pacific oysters, a stubborn, gray intruder that has spread explosively along parts of the Scandinavian coast.

Digital diplomacy is a hot topic. Embassies all over the world increasingly use social media as a low-cost and convenient tool to promote their countries, inform people about their latest activities and engage with their followers. Many embassies can be found on Facebook, Twitter or Youtube, but also on China’s Sina Weibo or WeChat, changing the way foreign embassies engage with with local audiences in China.
 

Social media is changing "business as usual" for governments, opening up democratic processes, delivering services both to understand and surveil constituents, managing threats and conducting direct diplomacy. Even so, adoption of social media is slow and uneven, with vast differences both between and within states. As more and more governments move towards e-government, their use of social media will grow. 

As Australian digital diplomacy strives to catch-up to the rest of the world, these links will highlight the most creative and effective ways in which countries are leveraging the internet for foreign policy gain.

On the first Friday of each month The Interpreter will publish Digital Diplomacy links instead of the weekly Digital Asia links. As Australian digital diplomacy strives to catch up to the rest of the world, these links will highlight the most creative and effective ways countries are leveraging the internet for foreign policy gain.

When India’s premier wanted to signal a thaw in relations with rival Pakistan recently, he didn’t call a press conference or make a televised speech. He tweeted. (...) Since Mr. Modi took office last year as leader of the world’s largest democracy, policy pronouncements have come in 140-character snippets. He has used Twitter and other social-media services to engage in diplomacy and build his image in a way few other global leaders have.