Traditionally, foreign policy has been the exclusive domain of bureaucrats and diplomats. Social media has brought foreign policy discussions into the public domain, whether on divisive topics such as political crises and cyber security or conciliatory ones such as congratulating world leaders. Social media has played an instrumental role in election campaigns as well as crises situations where it has been used to communicate with the masses.
World leaders, diplomats and bureaucrats are trying to reconcile with its growing popularity and power, and ideating on ways to use it productively at the personal and professional level. Must diplomacy evolve to keep pace with the meteoric rise of social media? Has digital diplomacy become a crucial instrument of foreign relations? How can diplomats harness the power of social media? What has digital diplomacy done to increase transparency?
Moderator:
Manjeet Kripalani, Executive Director, Gateway House
Panel:
Ambassador Navdeep Suri, Indian Ambassador to Egypt
Matthias Lüfkens, Chair, Digital Practise, Burson-Marsteller
Raheel Khursheed, Head of News, Politics & Govt, Twitter India
T.V. Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Group
Date:
26 September 2014
Time:
Friday, 18:00-19:00 IST