page_title: Twitter diplomacy
section_title: Twitter and diplomacy
hierarchical_section_title: Twitter diplomacy / Origins / Twitter and diplomacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Twitter activity of Michael McFaul
context_page_description: Twitter diplomacy, also "Twiplomacy" or "hashtag diplomacy", is the use of social media website, Twitter, by heads of state, leaders of intergovernmental organizations, and their diplomats to conduct diplomatic outreach and public diplomacy.
  Twitter has taken on diverse and occasional roles in diplomatic communications, from cordial announcements of bi-lateral cooperation to terse exchanges and diplomatic jabs, as well as more casual posts.
context_section_description: As of April 2014, an estimated 241 million active users had joined Twitter. Twitter also offers policymakers the possibility to interact with a worldwide audience.
  World leaders and their diplomats have taken note of Twitter's rapid expansion and have begun using it to engage with foreign publics and their own citizens. US Ambassador to Russia, Michael A. McFaul was one of the first diplomats to use Twitter as a tool for diplomacy. He used Twitter after becoming ambassador in 2011, posting in English and Russian. A 2013 study by website Twiplomacy found that 153 of the 193 countries represented at the United Nations had established government Twitter accounts.  The same study also found that those accounts amounted to 505 Twitter handles used by world leaders and their foreign ministers, with their tweets able to reach a combined audience of over 106 million followers.
  Commenting in a 2013 publication on the subject for the Geneva-based, non-profit Diplo, former Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said of social media, "Social media exposes foreign policymakers to global audiences while at the same time allowing governments to reach them instantly [...] Twitter has two big positive effects on foreign policy: it fosters a beneficial exchange of ideas between policymakers and civil society and enhances diplomats' ability to gather information and to anticipate, analyze, manage, and react to events."
caption: Twitter activity of Michael McFaul. Re-tweets are not included.
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