2. Who am I Why am I interested in Digital Communication?
3. Cultural Diplomacy Service Delivery Commercial Diplomacy Traditional Policy DIPLOMACY AS MARKETING of Ideas To build Constituencies For Action What do we understand by Diplomacy?
4. Own Citizens Opinion Formers Decision makers Businessmen Foreign Publics Examples: Travel Advice, See Britain 2012, My own work, Boston CG on LinkedIn, Mark Kent, FCO Ministers Who are we trying to Communicate with and to What Purpose?
5. Advent of 24/7 News leads to: short attention span Over emphasis on the Immediate Lack of analysis Too much editorial power News as Entertainment No story staying power 30 second sound bite What’s Happened to the Traditional Approach to Public Information?
7. IMMEDIACY & CONNECTIVITY TRANSPARENCY RISK INTELLECTUAL MULTIPLIER What are the Unintended Consequences of the Digital Revolution?
8. False Blogs Darius = Iranian Intelligence Georgia Conflict: PR Companies But Communities Self Policing & ability of public to challenge and answer back. Wikipedia vs Wikileaks PROPAGANDA? ‘ Information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause’
10. Societies and Structures Perhaps the most commonly occurring Institutional Structure is a Hierarchical arrangement best viewed as a Pyramid
11. These reflect models that can be found in the Commercial and Military world as well as Government Bureaucracies CEO BOARD Senior Managers Middle Managers STAFF COMMERCIAL C in C Generals Officers NCOs Other Ranks MILITARY
12. Monarch Nobility Knights Freemen Serfs HISTORIC It is surely Ironic that these models are based upon a domestic society That has not existed in the majority of the worlds states for several hundred years
18. They were not designed for with Governments still less Diplomats in mind The Business Model is far from proven But they offer Direct Outreach to an extent we could not have dreamed of. Compare: an evening reception to an Online Internet Event PUSH vs PULL Are Soc Media Tools Fit for Purpose?
19. Governments’ probably need to develop a clearer idea of why Soc Media is a useful tool They need ensure that Soc Media events and activities are part of a coherent process with a clear outcome not simply an end in themselves Lessons for the Future?
In most societies we would find that people shared Common aspirations, were motivated by very similar issues In short their was considerable degree of communality of interest At a very basic level. Put simply we could define this as the search for security, prosperity and sustainability. At the individual level most people want to live in a safe neighborhood. They want a good job And they want these conditions to be sustained over time indeed often to the next generation. The degree they want these things and the level that the aspiration is satisfied will vary but most people can be motivated by them. In the domestic environment most politicians well understand this and seek to harness these motivations by identifying the common interest to build a constituency of support.
Nonetheless even in a domestic environment there are two groups who Fall outside the predominant shared interest - The Super Rich whose aspirations may remain but the extent they will be motivated by them has greatly diminished after the acquisition of the 7 or 8 house this is no longer a significant motivator And those who deliberately or by force of circumstance Opt out. Classically we might think of Tramps Or the single mother with six children by 3 different fathers as falling into these groups. Again his group may share the aspiration but have little prospect of attaining it. It is important not to see these groupings a containing value judgments. They are simply observations of how many 21st Century societies are structured. Since much of the aspiration has an economic aspiration it is interesting to note that sociological studies show that the degree of empathy as expressed as a proportion of income people are prepared to donate to charity actually increases as one moves from right to left.
Increasingly today’s political leaders will demonstrably seek to identify with the shared aspirations of those in the middle “Call me Tony” or the habit of deliberately taking of one’s jacket or tie are an oral or visual signal that say “I am the same as you”. Even if they come from the group on the left hand side (and get much of their funding from this group) they position themselves, as the marketing people would put it, deliberately amongst those in the centre ground.
We can use the same model and observe similar dynamics at work in International society. Again it is important to avoid confusing this approach with any value judgment. The fact that the international equivalent of the Domestic Super Rich rarely play a leading role in international politics is simply a factual observation. This may change.