Goodwill ambassador different from list of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors
LinkedIn ambassadors
Social media based network formations such as the LinkedIn goodwill ambassadors established in 2014 by Richard DiPilla led to confusion, when he recognized thousands upon thousands of professionals around the world as humanitarians with a digital computer award certificate conferring recognition as a "Global Goodwill Ambassador" based on the career and volunteer related information they have provided about themselves using their public LinkedIn profiles. The network, which claims over 17,000 goodwill ambassadors became an organization in subsequent years called the Global Goodwill Ambassadors Foundation (GGAF) based in Minnesota, DiPilla started a website and sought 501(c)(3) status. Because of the number of award recipients' assimilation of similar descriptive roles occupied by representatives associated with the United Nations, the organization's commemorative LinkedIn ambassadors have caused a great deal of ambiguity and confusion with official UNICEF Global Goodwill Ambassadors, an official UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador, a Global Goodwill Ambassador for the World Food Program, the Global Goodwill Ambassador organization in New York, the Lamar University Global Goodwill Ambassadors Program and the Global Goodwill Ambassador Awards of 2016 in Nigeria. The organization's name, the number of awards that use the term, and number of people that received the award naturally diminish the efforts and messages of the original prior users of the term "Global Goodwill Ambassador" making them less effective when using the relevant words together to represent their identity in public relations campaigns, in the news, on the Internet, on Facebook, Twitter and on the world stage to carry out their official missions.
Unlike official designations granted by UN Women, UNICEF, UNHCR or other United Nations organizations which require an official designation, LinkedIn ambassadorships from the GGAF: do not require previous experience as an ambassador; are not developed to provide diplomatic credence; are not conferred by a head of state; do not represent a legal authority; do not obligate recipients to a legitimate commission; and do not regulate any official duty that can be recognized or understood by other states as a diplomatic post or an honorable title.
not same as not identical to distinct from separate from unlike