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Aug 8, 2022, 3:01 PM

The Power of Memes: Analyzing War-Time Messaging

The Russia-Ukraine war has witnessed the emergence of new social media practices. The Ukrainian government, for one, has been using social media to crowdfund its armed forces and create an IT army charged with cyber-attacks against Russia. Yet the...

Jun 7, 2022, 2:42 PM

The Metaverse: The Good the Bad and the Ugly

In recent months, diplomats have expressed growing interest in the Metaverse, the next stage of the internet. For diplomats, the Metaverse will bring many opportunities and challenges. In a truly digital world, diplomats will be able to digitally interact...

Feb 28, 2022, 4:47 PM

Digital Diplomacy is Shaping the #Ukraine Crisis

Digital diplomacy is not a new phenomenon. Beginning in the 1990s, foreign ministries (MFAs) sought to adopt and leverage digital technologies. In some cases, this was as rudimentary as using emails as opposed to diplomatic cables or creating intranets,...

Feb 15, 2022, 3:40 PM

What on Earth is Happening in Ukraine?

Yesterday I set out to understand the current state of affairs in Ukraine. The day began, as always, with a barrage of memes mocking a meeting between Russian President Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The news was...

Feb 6, 2022, 3:06 PM

The Metaverse and its Impact on Diplomacy

Presently, the Metaverse is only a vision. It is a roadmap guiding the activities of tech companies around the world. At the most basic level, the Metaverse will be a second plane of existence. Imagine living simultaneously in two...

Jan 3, 2022, 11:41 AM

Israel Escalates Twitter Feud with Iran

Recent years have seen the mass migration of MFAs (foreign ministries) and diplomats to social media sites. It is now estimated that 95% of UN Member States have established some form of social media presence. Iran is no exception....

Jan 2, 2022, 4:14 PM

2021-Digital Diplomacy’s Greatest Year

The universe, as we now know, began with a bang. A big bang to be precise. A cataclysmic and cosmic explosion that at once gave birth to more than 120 billion galaxies. Digital diplomacy also began with a bang,...

Oct 17, 2021, 6:55 PM

A Tale of Two Empires: Facebook and America

pton calls ‘social death’.

Jul 14, 2021, 5:33 PM

On memory, digitalization and Auschwitz

Auschwitz Memorial tweet (Screenshot)

Based on 140 tweets this month by the Auschwitz Memorial, it is clear that the Memorial focuses on Polish suffering under the Nazis. Where are the Jews?

May 11, 2021, 5:51 PM

License to Tweet: When MI6 chief goes online

In November of 2013, the Chief of MI6, the UK’s foreign intelligence service, joined Twitter. On the one hand, one could argue that the willingness of senior spies to join social networks is an important step forward in government...

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About Me

Dr. Ilan Manor (PhD Oxford University) is a diplomacy scholar at Tel Aviv University. Manor's recent book, The Digitalization of Diplomacy, explores how digital technologies have reshaped diplomatic practices. Manor has contributed to several publications including The Times of Israel, The Jerusalem Post, Haaretz and the Jewish Daily Forward. According to his Twitter bio, Manor is the inventor of the ashtray. He blogs at www.digdipblog.com