Shaun Riordan: Strategic #digitaldiplomacy

In this episode of The #DigitalDiplomacy Podcast, we have talked with Shaun Riordan, Senior Visiting Fellow of the Netherlands Institute for International Relations “Clingendael”, a member of the Social Media Team of the Hague Journal of Diplomacy, and a member of the Public Diplomacy Advisory Board of the Sustainable Development Goals Fund. He served 16 years as a British Diplomat, including postings to New York, Beijing and Madrid, and spells in the Counter-Terrorism and Eastern Adriatic Units of the Foreign Office. Since leaving the Diplomatic Service, he has worked as an independent consultant to both governments and companies on the analysis and management of geopolitical risk and innovation in diplomacy, as well as a lecturer at several international universities and diplomatic academies. Currently, he specialises in Business Diplomacy and Cyberdiplomacy (the application of diplomatic techniques and mindsets to cyberspace). He is author of, a.o., The New Diplomacy (2003), and Cyberdiplomacy: Doing Diplomacy in Cyberspace (2018 – forthcoming), and co-author of Diplomatic Futures: Integrative Diplomacy in the 21st Century (2010). He has contributed to numerous academic journals. He writes a regular blog on diplomacy and geopolitics, which can be found at www.shaunriordan.com, and he can be followed on Twitter at @shaun_riordan . In the interview, Shaun talks to us about the need for a more strategic approach to digital diplomacy, why algorithms and echochambers are serious threats to public diplomacy, the role of MFA's as network managers and much more. Thank you for listening to this episode! If you like it, please share it with others that you think could be interested. And please give us a (nice) review on iTunes or Soundcloud, so that we can continue reaching more people around the world who are interested in the world of diplomacy and international relations in the 21st Century. We’ll be back soon with more interviews with interesting perspectives on the way diplomacy is changing, evolving, and adapting to the disruptive changes our societies and the relationship between them are undergoing these years. The #DigitalDiplomacy Podcast is produced by the Embassy of Denmark in Spain. It is edited and hosted by Communications and Policy Officer Mikkel Larsen. Music by Bebeto, “Ambient Loop” ((CC) / https://freesound.org/people/bebeto/sounds/554/ ).