Twitter diplomacy no relation Michael A. McFaul
Twitter diplomacy is the use of the social media website Twitter by heads of state, leaders of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), and their diplomats to conduct diplomatic outreach and public diplomacy.Twitter has hosted a variety of diplomatic communications, ranging from cordial announcements of bi-lateral cooperation to diplomatic jabs, to terse exchanges, as well as more casual posts.Twitter and diplomacy
As of April 2023, Twitter had an estimated 353.9 million annual users, offering policymakers the possibility to interact with a worldwide audience.World leaders and their diplomats have taken note of Twitter's rapid expansion and have begun using it to engage with foreign publics and their own citizens. US Ambassador to Russia Michael A. McFaul was one of the first diplomats to use Twitter for diplomacy after he become ambassador in 2011, by posting in English and Russian. A 2013 study by website Twiplomacy found that 153 of the 193 countries represented at the United Nations had established government Twitter accounts.  The same study also found that those accounts amounted to 505 Twitter handles used by world leaders and their foreign ministers, with their tweets able to reach a combined audience of over 106 million followers.Commenting in a 2013 publication on the subject for the Geneva-based non-profit Diplo Foundation, former Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said of social media, "Social media exposes foreign policymakers to global audiences while at the same time allowing governments to reach them instantly [...] Twitter has two big positive effects on foreign policy: it fosters a beneficial exchange of ideas between policymakers and civil society and enhances diplomats' ability to gather information and to anticipate, analyze, manage, and react to events."By heads of state and government
Former US President Barack Obama is credited as being the first head of state to establish a Twitter account, originally affiliated with his 2008 presidential campaign, on March 5, 2007, as user number 813,286.  He was also the most followed head of state on Twitter.Other heads of state and government to pioneer the conduct of Twitter diplomacy include Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto, Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, all of whom joined Twitter in 2007.
Former US president Donald Trump, whose frequent and often controversial use of Twitter during the 2016 US presidential election campaign and since has become well known around the world, frequently engaged in Twitter diplomacy during his years in office.
no relation