Start-Up Digital Diplomacy

Innovating Israel’s Engagement with Global Society

@IsraelLADillon

Start-Up Digital Diplomacy

The story of how one foreign mission innovated its diplomatic engagement with global society

from the bottom-up.

Start-Up Digital Diplomacy

• How Diplomacy Works• Creating Digital Diplomats• Citizen Ambassadors: Crowdsourcing Public

Diplomacy• Current Challenges• The Future

HOW DIPLOMACY WORKSStart-Up Digital Diplomacy

How Diplomacy Works

• Foreign Mission: Consulate General of Israel, Los Angeles (covers southwest US)

• Nine Consulates Across the US, plus Embassy in DC

• Primary Mission: Represent Israeli interests and policies to the United States to government and society

• Limited human resource environment

How Diplomacy Works

• Composition of a Foreign Mission:– Political Office–Media Relations– Academic Affairs– Community Affairs– Cultural Affairs– Economic Mission

How Diplomacy Works

Government to Government&

Public Diplomacy

Government to Government

• Technical Exchanges– Homeland Security best practices/technology– Environmental Technology (solar/wind/water)

• Economic Cooperation• Political Briefings– Ensuring that members of Congress understand

international issues. Affecting how they vote on bills.

Public Diplomacy

• Academic Engagement (students/professors)• Community Relations• Press and Media• Culture (events/exchanges)

Traditional Diplomacy

• In-Person Meetings and Briefings• Print Newspaper Op-Eds• Large Scale Events

Internal Information Flow

• Diplomatic Information flows two ways:– Government position/policy flows from national

capital to foreign missions.– Local information flows to the capital from foreign

missions:• Political• Social moods• Economic opportunities

Public Information Flow

• Public diplomatic information flows from the foreign mission out to relevant segments of society.

• Typically using traditional techniques.• For Israel, this interaction is being innovated

from the bottom-up – from diplomatic officers rather than top down from the Ministry.

CREATING DIGITAL DIPLOMATSStart-Up Digital Diplomacy

The Space

• Foreign Mission Website (Core)• Email• Social Media

Branding The Space

• Consistent Brand Presence:– Visual standards established for all channels– Content standards (textual, voice, etc)

• This practice tends to be rare for government.

Utilizing Diverse Social Channels

• Facebook / MySpace• Twitter• YouTube / UStream• Other content sharing services

Disruptive Digital Diplomats

Social media disrupts international relations.

Israel uses existing disruptive tools, is developing new ones, and embracing disruptive agents.

Expanding Engagement

• Key Innovation: Expanding reach to distant community segments– Rural– Broader demographic appeal– Broader ideological appeal

Expanding Engagement

• Key Innovation: Emphasize personality over institution

• Enable conversation rather than headline blasting

Expanding Engagement

• Key Innovation: Social media allows for 24hr anytime anywhere diplomatic interactions

The Digital Diplomat and the Flotilla

• Rich content and detailed material available on the foreign mission website

• Twitter enabled real-time updates plus mass interaction/correcting misconceptions

• Facebook enabled real-time updates, detailed reports posted, interaction with friends/fans

• Briefings with bloggers • All content is shareable

The Digital Diplomat

• One diplomatic officer can literally reach tens of thousands of citizens around the world without leaving their desk

Digital Diplomats and Information Networks

• Recall the diplomatic officer's specialized functions

• Social media becomes an up to the second intelligence resource

• Digital Diplomats establish their own specialized information networks on Facebook and Twitter

• Enables real time actionable intelligence

Citizen Ambassadors: Crowdsourcing Public Diplomacy

Start-Up Digital Diplomacy

Citizen Ambassador Portal

• Online community for interested citizens• Objective is to inform citizens and provide the

tools to inform their friends and family• Tapping into social trust• Allows for Israel-focused social interaction• Enables interactive rich content experience

Citizen Ambassador Portal

• Why utilize a custom social network over other platforms?– Allows us to gain a clearer picture of society:

demographics, interests, etc– Enables more focused and targeted interaction– The CAP is Facebook enabled for ease of use

CURRENT CHALLENGESStart-Up Digital Diplomacy

Current Challenges

• INTEGRATED INFORMATION FLOW– Internal communications: Dispersing rich content

from HQ to foreign missions around the world and vice versa

– External communications: Managing workflow among diplomatic officers and among various social networks. Twitter text vs. Facebook text

– Integrated Social Steaming: Combining information networks for easy consumption

Current Challenges

• Government Transparency = More Data• Current information management challenges

compounded• Wide ranging implications: Political support,

social support, international investment

THE FUTUREStart-Up Digital Diplomacy

The Future

• Increasing transparency (more and more data)• Increased citizen engagement• More informed global society (no islands)• Streamlined diplomacy