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Twiplomacy-Study-2020.Pdf Twiplomacy 2020 Over the past four months the world as we know it has changed beyond recognition. COVID-19 has thoroughly upended diplomacy, a profession which involves a fair amount of travel, physical meetings and in-person interactions. The traditional work of world leaders and diplomats has come to a sudden stop as travel restrictions, border closures and shelter-in-place orders have scuppered in-person diplomatic activity. As the novel coronavirus spread globally, leaders hunkered down at home, such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who went into self-isolation after his wife tested positive for COVID-19. "I’ll continue to work from home and conduct meetings via video & teleconference," he tweeted. No more handshakes, hugs or accolades. No more physical meetings, bilateral summits or multi- lateral gatherings. World leaders and diplomats had to adapt to working from home and have been thrust into virtual meetings. Diplomacy became truly digital. Within days most diplomatic activity moved online with leaders facing each other off via their respective computer screens. Bilateral and multilateral meetings are now held via telephone or videoconferencing apps, despite having had some teething problems of open microphones and slow internet connections. The traditional family pictures of multilateral meetings, such as the G7, G20 and the ASEAN summits, have been replaced by a mosaic of screens with leaders sitting in front of their respective flags. World leaders were quick to use Twitter to communicate and explain lockdown rules, often using the Twitter covers to encourage their followers to #StayHome, #StayAlert and #SaveLives. Many shared guidance on strict hygiene protocols and demonstrated correct handwashing and observing social distancing rules. The verdict is out whether the diplomatic distancing measures have exacerbated ‘national distancing’ as former UK Ambassador Tom Fletcher argued or whether leaders have actually come closer together through direct and intimate video chats. The Israeli Foreign Ministry used the lockdown to tweet beyond its traditional audience, reaching millennials and Gen Z Twitter users. “The #CoronaVirus had a dramatic impact on the role of #DigitalDiplomacy, which is now more important than ever before,” the Foreign Ministry tweeted. “Without physical spaces, many use #socialmedia to “socialize” and we’re taking advantage of that with engaging & relevant content that resonates with global audiences.” The coronavirus has been a key catalyst for the digitalisation of diplomacy. Leaders who only half-heartedly embraced digital platforms are now actively chatting via Google Meet, Skype and Zoom calls and engaging their followers via Periscope. Even Pope Francis joined a Skype interview oddly staring down on his laptop. Despite the timid resumption of in-person meetings between masked foreign ministers, there is little chance that bilateral and multi- lateral will ever come back to normal. Many large-scale diplomatic events such as the United Nations General Assembly in late September 2020 and the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in January 2021 have already been downscaled with large portions of the debate happening online rather than in-person. Speaking online without a live audience is a challenge for many world leaders but the chance to pre- record statements offers new opportunities for the leaders’ messages to be heard and seen beyond the meeting room by a global online audience. The BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe) Twiplomacy study 2020 focuses on the how world leaders have tweeted during the coronavirus pandemic and how Twitter has tried to keep the chatter clean from disinformation. According to the 2020 edition, the governments and leaders of 189 countries had an official presence on the social network, representing 98 percent of the 193 UN member states. The governments of only four countries do not have a Twitter presence, namely Laos, North Korea, Sao Tome and Principe and Turkmenistan. The heads of state and government of 163 countries and 132 foreign ministers maintain personal accounts on Twitter. As of June 1, 2020, all 1,089 personal and institutional Facebook pages of world leaders had a combined total of more than 620 million followers and had posted 8.7 million tweets since their creation. Tweeting the Coronavirus Not surprisingly the hashtags #coronavirus and #COVID19 have dominated the Twitter feeds of world leaders since early March 2020. Philippine Foreign Minister Teddy Locsin Jr. was the first to mention the virus in a tweet on January 19, assuring that the Department of Health and the Airport authorities are "on top of this" adding that the "Last thing we can handle is this kind of epidemic." On January 22 the Indonesian government announced the installation of thermo-scanners at 135 entrance points into the country. A day later, on January 23 the Foreign Ministry of Honduras shared the first infographic indicating the symptoms of the novel coronavirus and the hashtag #PrevenirEsVivir (To prevent is to live) In his Chinese New Year greetings, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif congratulated the Chinese government for its “timely and decisive response, and the unanimous unity of the entire country, in the fight against the new coronavirus infection pneumonia epidemic.” In January U.S. President Donald Trump also praised China for their efforts to contain the virus and thanked President Xi Jinping for the transparency. As the death toll of the pandemic was rising especially in Italy, Pope Francis prayed for those suffering from the coronavirus as well as the healthcare workers and the authorities trying to contain the spread of the virus. Worldwide tens of thousands expressed their support for the healthcare workers by clapping every evening at 20:00 such as the European Commission European Commission which shared the clapping gif. The President of Panama tweeted 140 clapping emojis in honour of the healthcare workers. Many other leaders used the emojis to express their gratitude towards the health workers. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accompanied by their spouses, both came out clapping for healthcare workers. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been leading the weekly #ClapForCarers in front of his residence at 10 Downing Street. On April 30 his clapping #ThankYouNHS had a very special meaning as it came after his discharge from hospital and the day after his fiancée had given birth to a baby boy. Boris Johnson has been one of a handful world leaders who tested positive for coronavirus, and in late March he announced that he was going into self-isolation. In early April Boris Johnson’s condition had worsened, and he was hospitalized. He even spent several days in intensive care, prompting his peers to send him get well soon tweets. Prince Albert II of Monaco, Armenia’s President Nikol Pashinyan, Bolivia’s interim President Jeanine Áñez, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and the Foreign Minister of Burkina-Faso Alpha Barry were all diagnosed with COVID-19. “The rumour has become reality... I have just tested positive for COVID-19”, he tweeted. Alpha Barry and a handful of other world leaders, including the King of Morocco Mohammed VI, Chile’s President Sebastian Piñera, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček updated their Twitter profile picture wearing a face mask, a subtle way to lead by example and encourage their followers to do the same. Others such as Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio have updated their cover picture. While U.S. President Donald Trump has consistently avoided to be photographed wearing a facemask, First Lady Melania Trump gladly modelled a cloth face covering including a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to wear a face mask. The members of the White House coronavirus task force started wearing face masks at their meetings only a month later in mid-May and U.S. President Donald Trump finally donned a mask in public while visiting the Walter Reed military hospital in mid-July. The team of the President of Botswana Mokgweetsi Masisi put together an engaging video to encourage their citizens to wear a mask. The government of Botswana also launched the #BWMaskChallenge asking their followers to share a selfie wearing a mask. The South African Presidency encouraged followers to show their support for the lockdown measures by downloading and displaying a Twibbon on their social media profiles encouraging citizens to #StayHome and #StaySafe. Even President Cyril Ramaphosa added the Twibbon to his Twitter profile. At the end of an address to the nation, Cyril Ramaphosa asked his citizens to wear a face mask but visibly struggled to put one on himself. However, he took it in a stride, promising to teach people how to put on a face mask. Slovakia's President Zuzana Čaputová was wearing a face mask, colour coordinated with her dress, for the swearing in ceremony of the new government led by Prime Minister Igor Matovič who was also wearing a face mask. Some world leaders have shared masked selfies including Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel who tweeted a selfie with his partner: “Happy Europe Day, but with closed internal borders, it’s not the EU we love G&X” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a masked selfie in front of a fountain in Chernihiv, in an effort to promote tourism to the northern Ukrainian city, "a real magnet for tourists!" Countless government organisations have also updated their Twitter covers spreading health and safety advice on top of their profiles. The Irish government, the EU Commission, India's Press and Information Bureau and the Vietnam Foreign Ministry added hashtags to their Twitter names including #StayHome and #WeWillWinTogether as well as health warnings on their cover pictures. The French government paid to promote the hashtag #JeResteChezMoi (I stay at home) among the top trending topics on Twitter to encourage its citizens to stay in place.
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