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The Institute of World Policy presented the policy brief of analytical notes “Twitter-diplomacy. How new technologies could enhance the position of Ukraine on the international arena?”The senior research fellow Leonid Litra and analyst Julia Kononenko presented the research. {4}

The purpose of the research is emphasize the importance of employing tools of e-diplomacy for Ukrainian diplomats to diffuse information and receive feedback from public and international community, to strengthen connections with country’s foreign partners as well as to make communication within the MFA easy, practical, rapid and cost-saving. {5}
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Experts underscored that Ukrainian diplomacy has made its first steps in this sphere and now it has to be more assertive in benefiting from the opportunities offered by the digital diplomacy. Therefore, experts offered five recommendations for diplomats and policymakers to foster institutionalization of practices that would lead to the adaptation of e-diplomacy within Ukrainian diplomatic circles and engender structural changes within the realm of foreign policy.
– To develop specialized program and unit that would be solely dedicated to promoting and building capacity of the digital diplomacy within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This department would be responsible for fostering diplomats to use social media in the twofold way. First, to ensure the outreach to wider public within the country as well as to foreign nationals in order to increase awareness of major foreign policy issues, employ digital channels to inform public in case of crisis, and utilize it as an opinion-making tool. It is vital to underscore that messages delivered through social networks by diplomats should be consistent with the general policy pursued by the MFA. Second, to build digital networks within diplomatic corpus and promote e-diplomacy for diplomatic representatives and diffuse it across the MFA. It is especially important for the institutions that are stationed outside of the country such as embassies and consulates.

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– To employ training programs and specialized courses that would be offered to the diplomats in order for them to learn how to apply means of digital diplomacy in their work and face challenges of e-diplomacy. It is salient to encourage diplomats to be bold in employing innovative practices and use twitter diplomacy in order to craft their image as of diplomat open to the public in their daily work. Moreover, it is vital to ensure that personnel have space, time, and incentives to make training a crucial part of their careers. As well, it should become a special course at the Diplomatic Academy on how to use e-diplomacy.

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– To increase the web presence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by publishing messages in news, blogs, and videos across global web network. Moreover, this initiative should be aimed at turning virtual space into the proper forum for public debates, forming partnerships with relevant organizations and implementations of initiatives that reflect foreign policies. Furthermore, the MFA has to ensure that conferences, summits, and forums initiated by the ministry need to have high presence within social networks and promoted by the tools of the digital diplomacy. This is especially relevant on the eve of Ukraine’s chairmanship in the OSCE
– To duplicate twitter accounts, social media pages into English – the diplomatic lingua franca on the international arena – that will allow Ukrainian diplomats to be more active within the realm of virtual diplomacy and become more interconnected by the means of the twitter diplomacy. For instance, the ability to have twitter accounts in English and Ukrainian could allow following greater number of the heads of governments, foreign ministers and diplomats.

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– To encourage public, non-governmental organizations and media space to use more actively means of digital diplomacy in its communication with the MFA and as a platform to deliver its initiatives and claims to the Ministry in order to ensure fruitful mutual communication between grassroots and top level of diplomacy.
The full version of the policy-brief could be accessed here

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