Thinking about participating in Twitter Diplomacy? Becareful...
Welcome to the real-time world of on-line diplomacy using the social media!
Twitter diplomacy anybody?
In 2009, Iranian elections .
In 2010, the Tunisian uprising .
So far in 2011, Egypt . Could Saudi Arabia be next?
Both businesses and governments are starting to realize the power of world citizens collaborating using social media and social networks. Within this new collaborative world order will build new understandings of peoples, develop stronger economies, and create broader international trust.
Twitter diplomacy is a wonderful concept. It allows a free flow of information and data to be generated, understood, and acted upon by diplomats, intelligence agencies, news outlets, and citizens. Whether the conversations are good or bad, we all are still talking instead of fighting!
Ponder the below, before taking a dive into Twitter diplomacy. If you really think about it, IT IS quite the swimming pool to explore!
6 Issues Involving Twitter Diplomacy:
Location: Many countries are still trying to develop wireless telecommunications based infrastructure. In a Pew Internet Survey in 2010, the 3rd world countries developing the most computer networking infrastructure were in the Africa and Asia. Before trying to talk to friends or prospects in Aden, Yemen or Valparaiso, Chile; do determine if they are on-line and they have the proper communications infrastructure to talk back.
Translation: This will be the number one issue with talking to your foreign friends. There are a bevy of great on-line translation tools and growing translators for social media venues. Also, remember your expertise, keywords, product names, and names of employees may not transfer into their language whatsoever. Find the right translator and social networking venue. Plan and adapt! Also is the Twitter application available in their language yet?
140 Character Challenge: If you have problem talking in 140 characters in your native language, this will be a bigger issue in foreign languages. Consider planning simple messages until you are comfortable in your conversations. FYI-like English based Twitter, hash tags (#) can be used to follow most multilingual conversations on Twitter.
Foreign Optimization: Just because one has a website, blog, or profile in English, doesn’t mean they will have to create a foreign one. Many of the world populations speak English. The problem here with many on-line presences to foreigners is website/blog design and usability. What we intuitively call a web page may alienate foreign business. Consider the same with your Twitter account and its design and decoration.
Your Conversations: What will you talk about with your new foreign friends? Your focus will not often be on your product but your expertise. Consider monitoring foreign conversations before talking…Look for subjects you and your foreign friends have in common.
Your Never Ending Data Stream: The Twitter timeline is a marvelous invention. It allows the user to see and view conversations in real time. Also, this timeline unleashes a fire hose of data of information the most experienced data miner finds daunting. Again, get to know your native language keywords then your foreign friends keywords. Then, start to look for data in conversations.
FYI-Throughout 2010, this blog has been frequently visited and subscribed to by nationals from the following countries: United States, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, UK, Australia, Germany, Japan, China, South Korea, France, Philippines, Brazil, Turkey, Mexico, Canada, Singapore,and South Africa.
Our world is becoming a very small place! Do you know what foreign nationals visit your blogs or websites? Is your on-line presence optimized for foreign visits?
