HASHTAG DIPLOMACY AND PUBLIC

OPINION ~ Priyanshi Bhatia

Project submitted to: Ms. Smriti Singh Project submitted by: Priyanshi Bhatia
5th Semester, 3rd year.
Section D, B.A.LLB Hons.

Date of Submission: 10th October 2022.

Amity Law School, Amity University
WHAT IS HASHTAG DIPLOMACY?

Hashtag diplomacy, also known as "Twiplomacy" or "twitter diplomacy," is the use of the
social media platform Twitter by heads of state, executives of IGOs, and their ambassadors to
carry out public diplomacy and outreach on behalf of their governments. It is perfect
amalgamation of the traditional and digital diplomacy on Twitter.
In recent years, Twitter has functioned as a flexible platform for the political public square
for both domestic and international issues. The use of Twitter for diplomatic purposes has
become a crucial component of modern international relations, partly driven by the popularity
of social media in the current environment. Indeed, Twitter has created its own form of
diplomacy by incorporating itself to augment traditional diplomatic functions such as
deliberation and negotiation. This brief demonstrates how Twitter has played a significant
role in the realm of diplomacy in the past few years. It analyses the role played by
‘Twiplomacy’, and underscores both its useful and deleterious effects on the conduct of
international relations.
The craft of diplomacy has evolved over time. From the invention of the Morse Telegraph
and the development of radio broadcasting in the modern environment has given prominence
to social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook for leaders to not only interact with
people at home and abroad but also to carry out their diplomatic duties. It has evolved to keep
up with technological advancements. However, social media diplomacy lacks the air of
formality that previous inventions and improvements had when they gained in acceptance. It
is becoming more obvious how much social media is influencing the diplomatic world. Social
media has ushered in a new paradigm, with the US President insulting his international
counterparts and India's former External Affairs Minister helping Indians abroad through
Twitter.

Twiplomacy, or Twitter Diplomacy, is the coming together of traditional and digital

diplomacy, and Twitter. Other politicians turn to the mainstream media when a world
leader tweets about a global event or a new policy framework to either respond to the
tweet, defend it, or simply to express their view on the subject at hand. These responses
add to the internet debate, which in turn influences public opinion.

Examining the Origins of Public Diplomacy

A fruitful starting point to understand any subject is to start with its history. For this purpose,
this paper examines the beginnings of diplomacy from the 11th century to mediated public
diplomacy in the 21st century.

Medieval Period

The beginning of diplomacy can be tracked centuries before Edmund Gullion, the dean of the
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, coined the term public diplomacy in 1965.
Ambassadors of this period, just like modern-day diplomats, mediated communication
between rulers, promoted trade between cities, formed alliances between warring empires and
carried out official orders or dynastic marriages. However, they carried out these duties from
within their own safeguarded kingdoms. These early foundations provide a reference point to
understand diplomacy’s associations with modern-day agenda building and national
reputation building among others. Moreover, as this study examines how embassies and
ministries of external affairs operate in the social media context, it has essentially traced the
beginnings of these offices of public diplomacy here.

World War I Era

th
During the 18 century, France controlled most of Europe, but the region experienced
multiple hostilities due to the French Revolutionary wars and Napoleon’s invasions. To bring
stability to Europe, the four nations of Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain joined
forces and defeated Napoleon. Later, these nations convened at the Congress of Vienna in
1814–15 and pledged to combat the French hegemony so that a single nation alone does not
control the European region again (Freeman & Marks, 2016). According to Martel (2007),
the aim was to maintain a balance of power in order to maintain peace among European
powers, which was the objective of diplomacy during this period.
The European powers continued to enter into multiple alliances to maintain the status quo.
Diplomats who were chosen from the nobility rose in power and formulated policies at an
international level with little opposition from the political elites (Rousseau, 2011). In this
period, diplomacy was characterized by elitism, secrecy and bilateral agreements (Rousseau,
2011). Negotiations conducted behind closed doors and secret bilateral alliances against rival
powers fostered an environment for the outset of World War I.

A few scholars perceived World War I as a watershed moment for public diplomacy
(Rousseau, 2011). Secret diplomacy was heavily criticized for the outbreak of World War I
and a call for open diplomacy was made (Hamilton & Langhorne, 2011).

World War II and Cold War

During the World War II, the radio played a major role in spreading a nation’s culture beyond
its borders. Following the British, who had already established the British Broadcasting
Service in the 1920s, the U.S. government started the Voice of America (VOA) in February
1942. It started to broadcast in four languages: English, German, Italian, and French

The U.S. ‘propaganda’ disguised as public diplomacy continued to spread during the Cold
War, except that, the primary mission was to combat Soviet propaganda and stop the spread
of communism. The United States Information Agency (USIA) supplied television sets, along
with U.S. television shows to foreign citizens in allied states (Cull, 2013). During the Cold
War, U.S. propaganda strategies, at times, contradicted the founding principles of the U.S.
Constitution (Hart, 2003). For instance, the U.S. established libraries to forward ideas and
values of education and freedom of speech.

The 21st Century Diplomacy

Several nations have consistently worked to project their "soft power" internationally in
recent years. Public diplomacy has been a crucial strategy for achieving this goal. Public
diplomacy refers to actions often made by a national government to accomplish its foreign
policy objectives by educating and influencing foreign public opinion and attitudes. Such
activities include ‘nation-branding’, diaspora outreach, digital engagement, international
broadcasting, and international exchange programmes, all of which are designed to promote a
positive image and reputation of the country to a global audience.
Public Diplomacy in the Asia

Public diplomacy as a means to build national reputation was perceived as an essential

foreign policy tool in many Asian countries recently (Hall, 2012). In Asia, China pioneered
the use of public diplomacy to build the national reputation in the international arena
following which Japan (2004), Malaysia (2006), and India (2006) established special
divisions within their ministry of external affairs to formulate novel public diplomacy
programs (Hall, 2012). Based on the models of the British Council and the Maison Française,
China established several ‘Confucius’ institutes to spread its culture and is also investing
funds in educational exchange programs. Likewise, Japan started the Japan Foundation
including the Center for Global Partnerships to boost its student and cultural exchange
programs (Hall, 2012).

The historical context and the successes and failures of the public diplomacy programs of the
Western countries, such as those mentioned in the earlier sections of this chapter, provide
examples for a few Asian nations to follow. For instance, India has set up the Public
Diplomacy Division within the Ministry of External Affairs that functions the same as the
United States Digital Outreach Team. The division runs India’s diplomacy missions and
embassies on different new media and social media platforms. Also, following the U.S.
example, Indian embassies, along with many cabinet ministries in the Indian government,
were ordered to set up social media accounts (Suri, 2011)

HASHTAG DIPLOMACY IN INDIA

The world has discovered fast and furious ways of communicating and social media is prime
among them. Five of the Indian government's Twitter handles rank in the top ten most
followed accounts worldwide, demonstrating how rapidly the Indian government not only
adopted but also assumed leadership in the new technology revolution in connecting with
people. These are of Prime Minister Narendra Modi (@NarendraModi), his office
(@PMOIndia), External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj (@sushmaswaraj), Ministry of
Eternal Affairs (@MEAIndia) and President of India (@Rashtrapatibvn). On Twitter, PM
Modi has the third-biggest following in the world, while on Instagram, he has the largest
following. The world's most popular foreign minister is Swaraj. MEA is one of the most
popularly watched governmental entities worldwide.
The Indian government has benefited the most from #Hashtag Diplomacy, whether it be for
engaging with its residents in difficult circumstances, expediting papers and visas, aiding
foreign nationals, or a way to communicate with international leaders. In fact, Indian leaders
and diplomats have mastered the ability of speaking in 140 characters in order to close the
gap between the government and the people (on Twitter). India is one of the rare nations with
all of its missions and top diplomats being quite active on Twitter, distributing information
about its projects and activities in addition to supporting Indians living overseas.

In May 2014, when the NDA government led by PM Modi took office, the government and
diplomacy in India made a revolutionary shift to the social media platform. In addition to
being active on social media, Prime Minister Modi has a sizable following across Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram. Social media use is referred to by the PM as "Direct Dialing," in
which the government contacts its constituents directly and receives a prompt response.

With only 32.1 million followers, PM Modi has risen to third place among world leaders on
Twitter (after Pope Francis and US President Donald Trump). According to Twiplomacy
rankings, Modi is the most popular leader in Asia. With 6.8 million followers on Instagram,
he is also the most popular and successful world leader, closely followed by Trump (6.3
million). The majority of all Instagram users, with 223,000 interactions on average every
post, were Modi's followers. Modi’s Facebook (FB) page has 42,119,451 followers. PM
effectively uses the platform to announce his visits to foreign countries and discuss the issue
he plans to take up. He happily takes suggestions from people on their concerns.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) made its debut on Twitter in 2010 as a potent avenue
to birth narrative and speedier communication, so establishing a texture of the diplomatic life
exposed to the public arena. Navdeep Suri was the catalyst for India's participation with
social media. Digital diplomacy is a crucial component of India's public diplomacy. The
current epidemic has influenced the level of development that digital diplomacy has attained
today. The existing Indian strategy needs to be modified and taken into consideration. India
has used the virtual platform as a strategic narrative to build on its public diplomacy
initiatives and communicate intentionally through online tools. India might become Asia's
next media leader by prudently maximising the benefits of digital diplomacy by investing in
low-cost outreach tools.

Advantages

Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has been used for diplomatic purposes including outreach
to the diaspora and contact with both domestic and foreign residents. Most social media
platforms, in general, have also had influence in projecting soft power to the world.

Ease of Communication
To fulfil their foreign policy goals, states must communicate with their domestic
population, their foreign population, and other governments. Twiplomacy promotes citizens
to participate in foreign policy discussions and decision-making, making those processes
more democratic. A tweet addressed to the head of state can start a dialogue if the general
public is unhappy with the present political landscape or recent policy decisions. This
reduces bureaucracy while increasing outreach.

Furthermore, interactions between diplomats from different countries serve as a precursor

to official negotiations, assisting in the development of bilateral and multilateral relations.
Twiplomacy provides a dialogue platform that challenges traditional notions of diplomatic
communication through formal channels. As a result, this mode of communication has
increased online engagement with counterparts in front of a global audience, which aids in
the repair of relationships and the development of interpersonal trust between counterparts.

Crisis Response Mechanism

On the morning of 10 March 2019, Boeing 737 800 Max of Ethiopian Airlines crashed
shortly after it left the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. There were four Indians amongst the
157 dead. On the same day, India’s former Foreign Minister, Sushma Swaraj (now
deceased), used Twitter to get in touch with the family of one of the deceased.

After putting together different logistics, the government finally managed to contact the
deceased’s husband.

This was not the first time the minister used Twitter to assist Indians in distressed
situations abroad. Twiplomacy proved to be an effective way of shortening the time
between a 'plan' and a'response' in those cases. [10] Swaraj's success was also due to the
Ministry of External Affairs' launch of a Twitter SEVA service in 2016, which aims to
centralise the MEA's grievance redressal mechanisms by bringing together the Twitter
accounts of 198 Indian Missions abroad, 29 regional passport offices, and eight other
handles such as @MEAIndia, @Indiandiplomacy, and @MEAQuery under the Twitter
SEVA umbrella. A tweet directed at any Ministry handle automatically lands on this SEVA
platform, which is intended to provide quick and prompt solutions to grievances.

Indeed, the use of Twitter as a crisis response mechanism appears to fill gaps in the
Ministry of External Affairs' website, which has become largely untrustworthy in
providing emergency consular assistance. Even if a grievance must be reported, the
process of registering it in the consular services management system and tracking its status
is time-consuming. Twiplomacy has played a significant role in responding to crises
around the world and extending assistance to citizens in need, as evidenced by India's
former External Affairs Minister's use of Twitter to discharge her duties.

Image Enhancement
Recognition is grounded within Hegelian philosophy, which suggests that an actor’s
identity is formed through continual interaction with another. Managing how a state is
recognised by other states is a key component of diplomacy When it comes to managing
recognition, social media platforms like Twitter are extremely valuable and indispensable.
Twitter, among other user-generated sites, effectively “cultivate communities of identity
performance that reaffirm more than question” the parameters of state identity. How states
manage and represent themselves on Twitter can represents and enhances their
foreign policy, leading to the acceptance of certain foreign policy options while ruling out
others.
Identifying trends in communication during periods of sensitive international negotiations
can lead one to make predictions regarding political possibilities for change earlier than
might normally be the case.

Today, a growing number of countries are putting forth a concerted effort to craft a positive
image in the minds of people around the world in order to enhance their influence and
prominence. This is commonly referred to as "nation branding." Given the transient power
dynamics, countries invest capital in image management, which is a portrayal of how states
wish to be viewed and recognised by other states—an essential part of diplomatic
engagement.

Many countries around the world have created official Twitter accounts for their police
forces in order to project a more humane image of the police by offering the services of
reporting crimes on Twitter as well as communicating with the public over Twitter when
success has been achieved related to crime.

DISADVANTAGES

Undermines Official Diplomacy

Analyzing tweets from officials earlier than usual can help predict political possibilities for
change, but it can also be misleading. When citizens read and analyse tweets, they often
believe that they represent the country's official policy. However, there may be a conflict
between official policy and the position taken by officials on Twitter.

The informal environment on Twitter can undermine the effect of traditional diplomacy,
which is the flip side of facilitating communication among government officials and
diplomats and citizens. Furthermore, putting diplomats on platforms like Twitter creates a
sense of uncertainty among the public, which may act as a moral deflator.

Escalation of Conflict

There have been several incidents of world leaders engaging in a war of words over
Twitter. According to an online study on Twiplomacy in 2018, Donald Trump
(@realDonaldTrump) is the most influential world leader on the platform. His aggravating
tweets aimed at North Kim Jong Un has repeatedly exacerbated the conflict between North
Korea and the United States, almost bringing the two to the brink of nuclear war in July
2017. Donald Trump mockingly tweeted on July 3, 2017, after North Korea launched
another nuclear missile: "North Korea has just launched another missile." Is there anything
else this guy could be doing with his life?"
The tweet elicited a response from North Korea's leader, who stated in his New Year's Day
speech: "It's not a mere threat, but a reality that I have a nuclear button on my desk in my
office." The entire continental United States is within range of our nuclear strike."
In response, Trump tweeted, "North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the
'Nuclear Button is always on his desk." Will someone from his depleted and food-deprived
regime please inform him that I, too, have a Nuclear Button, but it is much larger and more
powerful than his, and it works!"

What’s on the Internet, Stays on the Internet

On one hand, politicians and states use Twitter to improve their image and transparency; on
the other hand, the internet is a space that never forgets, which leads to trolling or
unnecessary scrutiny. Many times, a bad image from the past or a misreported declaration
from a state head can and has resulted in a negative or unserious image perception of the
said leader around the world.

HOW TWITTER DIPLOMACY AFFECTS CONTEMPORARY PUBLIC

DIPLOMACY

Once upon a time, public diplomacy was defined as "government-sponsored programmes

aimed at informing or influencing public opinion in other countries." However, in this day
and age of multi-track diplomacy, public diplomacy can be executed by anybody. As we all
know, public diplomacy is concerned with the impact of people's attitudes on the formulation
and implementation of foreign policies. It includes aspects of international relations that go
beyond traditional diplomacy, such as the cultivation of public opinion in other countries by
governments, the interaction of private groups and interests in one country with those in
another, and the transnational flow of information and ideas.

In other words, public diplomacy nowadays entails how an international actor influences the
perception of other foreign or sometimes domestic international actors through collaborative,
convincing, and appealing ways of expressing their viewpoints on a variety of issues through
various forms of media. In this case, public diplomacy has adapted to social network trends
and is commonly found on a popular social network called Twitter.
Public diplomacy must be executed properly in a sophisticated era where everything must be
done promptly. Given the popularity of the Twitter social network and its hundreds of
millions of active users worldwide, international actors regard it as a very promising medium
for conducting ideal public diplomacy. Whatever we call this new diplomatic trend, social
media tools like Twitter have compelled diplomats and communicators alike (other
international actors or 'Twiplomats') to reevaluate and redesign diplomacy in a new context.

In some ways, Twitter diplomacy appears to be altering diplomacy's DNA: a sort of

biological adaptation to emerging technologies.

As a result, we can conclude that the fundamental substance, objectives, and values of
public diplomacy have never changed. We can learn from this case that there may be
negative consequences to Twiplomacy, such as diplomatic tiffs between countries if it is not
done appropriately and properly.

Conclusion

Twiplomacy is not an enigmatic concept because it is a type of soft power that is now
accessible to every intergovernmental organization on Twitter, regardless of whether they are
state actors or non-state actors. Twiplomacy has two sides to it. It may have either positive or
negative consequences for global community as a whole. That is why all international actors
involved as Twiplomats should collaborate to counter any potential misuse of Twiplomacy
and maintain good communication, because public diplomacy is all about communication and
relationships.

Every international actor has their own reputation and status in the world of Twiplomacy.
However, their notoriety and status are not their only assets.

Even a very popular leader, such as Barack Obama, who has approximately 33 million
followers on Twitter, is the least connected and least influential state actor on Twitter due to
his lack of communication with his followers. As a result, this paper has demonstrated the
importance of developing a good and non-normative interaction with the objective of
Twiplomacy. Non-state actors have done an excellent job of utilising Twiplomacy. Through
engaging and interactive Tweets, they were able to achieve their goal of mainstreaming
certain issues they were focusing on in society. They were able to accomplish this because
they were able to effectively communicate with the netizens who follow them.

Government officials, as state actors, should learn a lot from non-state actors' effective
Twiplomacy by engaging in more informal and interesting dialogues with other international
actors. By doing so, government officials will be able to effectively communicate their
messages and establish a more intimate, enticing, and responsive diplomacy with society.

To summarise, despite being regarded as a sophisticated method of public diplomacy,

Twiplomacy does not make a revolutionary difference in the fundamental and substantial
values of diplomacy. Of course, Twiplomacy has benefits and drawbacks, and it is not the
only way to conduct public diplomacy. However, in this modern era, where speed is valued
above all else, Twiplomacy is an excellent method for international actors to learn and
experiment with.