The Three Phases of Digital Diplomacy

Digital had a major impact on the public sector, International Development, and diplomacy during the past 20 years. If we take a quick look at what happened, it's possible to identify distinct phases with different accomplishments.

1. 2008 - 2014: The great launch
2. 2014 - 2020: Towards professionalization
3. 2020 -?: A drastic acceleration

Digital diplomacy offers a new era to explore and is a relevant tool for strengthening international relations and increasing soft power. It can be defined as the use of the Internet and new information communication technologies to help achieve diplomatic objectives.

These digital technologies are not limited to only social media but also online video, software, direct messaging, automation, data analytics, web trends analysis, online public opinion, and much more.

Digital is transforming every form of diplomacy because it's a tool and not an end in itself. It is affecting economic, cultural, public, and political diplomacy.

The first phase of digital transformation in Diplomacy (until 2014) was a period during which actors had a strong learning curve. 

First, officials, staff, ambassadors, ministries discovered the use of digital to improve their current actions and working methods; digital format started to replace the traditional letters and physical meetings. Digital tools such as video conferencing, cloud systems, intranet became more and more user friendly and increased performance.

In 2008, President Obama created the first-ever Twitter account for a president. It started a rapid growth for social media in diplomacy. He focused on emotion with his slogan "Yes we can" which definitely matched the social media codes: it was short and impacting. It became viral with entertainment products such as the yes we can song from Will I Am inspired by Obama's speech.

He also used over 15 social networking sites and a massive database for his campaign. He then intensified the use of digital tools for his reelection campaign in 2012 with micro-targeting and even created a Reddit account in which he received 22 000 questions to his "Ask me anything" campaign.

Read more about Obama, Facebook and the power of friendship: the 2012 data election

During this period, governments started to build their online presence across the web platforms. Countries governments and ministries started to develop their own digital strategies to grasp the trend and create digital guidelines to be followed by their representation all over the world. Ambassadors were for example formally asked to create their Twitter account and to develop Facebook pages to showcase the activities of Embassies. Those guidelines also started to formulate restrictions on what should not be done or said online.

"Great to be the 1st Ambassador to the U.S. with a personal Twitter account; a good way to talk directly to America about Mexico!"

Arturo Sarukhan, Mexican Ambassador to Washington in 2009

Recap of the first phase of Digital Transformation in Government and Diplomacy:

• Phenomena related to the rise of social media platforms and their capacity to outreach millions of people; it was inevitable.
• Launched and democratized in 2008 by an individual who invested a lot in digital technologies for his presidential campaign.
• A phase with a strong learning curve; creating digital identities and building practices.

2016: The second phase of digital transformation in Diplomacy started around 2016 with the apparition of new guidelines and objectives to transform more deeply the use of digital.

This was widely amplified by the election of Trump (2016) who focused his campaign on digital strategies, psychographic profiles, and micro-targeting to conquer new voters. He based his strategy on a deep demographic targeting and a network of programmatic advertising relying on artificial intelligence and people’s emotions. This was later known as one of the key components of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Learn more about how the digital consulting firm helped Donald Trump with database management, digital marketing, and digital profiling in the Guardian article.

This event marked the use of digital and AI in politics because it started the need to secure data and digital practices. The European GDPR system (General Data Protection Regulation) was started in 2016 and aimed to give control to individuals over their personal data. It was applicable in 2018 in the European Union's 27 member states.

Apart from security, this period marked the professionalization of digital diplomacy. Ministries of foreign affairs started to reinforce guidelines to consolidate digital practices and protocol with an emphasis on how to use digital to handle a crisis.

On 21 November 2018, the College adopted the Digital Strategy of the European Commission. It set a vision for the Commission to become a digitally transformed, user-focused, and data-driven administration by 2022.

Read more about the European Commission Digital Strategy

Read more about France’s International Digital Strategy

As such, the second phase is marked by:

• The Professionalization of digital practices with digital strategies, rules, and guidelines from headquarters.
• Clear need for securing and giving a legal framework to the digital ecosystem to prevent any abuse.
• A new threat to diplomacy as digital technologies can be used for misinformation, fake news, and backlash.

2020: It is a bit too early to state the beginning of a new phase but it is certain that the COVID19 crisis will boost digital practices and the use of digital tools in diplomacy. 

COVID 19 crisis has shifted the world online abruptly and forced organizations to launch or accelerate their digital transformation. This international crisis had a devastating impact on the vast majority of populations and also on the completion of The Sustainable Development Goals.

“One of the few bright spots at this time is the increased use of technology as people flock to the Internet to work, shop and connect with others, but even this draws attention to a still-enormous digital divide.“ The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020

This crisis started the third phase for digital diplomacy, it forced the sector to work fully online. It has increased the use of digital tools to conduct standard diplomatic actions; online meetings, webinars, digital campaigns, online fairs, or even e-learning.

This passage highlighted the benefits of using digital for the daily work; instantaneity, reduction of costs, cross border perimeter, easiness, and metrics tracking. Within this period, USAID has released its first-ever Digital Strategy, charting an Agency-wide vision for development and humanitarian assistance in the world’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. (I will write a dedicated article to analyze this digital strategy in the coming weeks, stay tuned.)

That said, it is still unsure if this phase will be a simple trend or a real long-lasting phenomenon. Indeed, transforming diplomacy is a deep and lengthy process.

Therefore, digital transformation is a necessary milestone for every sector including governments and international development. The next big challenges for these strategic sectors are:

1. Shifting diplomatic practices from offline to online in record time because of COVID19 by using a systemic network of digital tools matching the real needs of each organization.
2. Investing in digital expertise to catch up with the private sector's advancement in terms of expertise, processes, and most importantly experts or talents.
3. Using digital as a tool to catalyze other areas of development such as economics, green diplomacy, digital inclusion, gender equality, or cultural diplomacy in a systemic approach.
4. Fostering online advocacy by engaging online communities who are unofficial cross borders ambassadors. They are connected to the values of an organization and join a cause to advocate for it.
5. Structuring the methodology to collect and analyze data in a secure and ethical way and without relying on third-party private companies.

Stay tuned for more articles and content on the Future of Governments and International development.