Social media and the promotion of digital narratives in IOs. A practice theoretical approach

Public engagement on social media in IOs is more and more a carefully crafted task resulting from rational calculus of bureaucratic institutions (be them permanent representations or IOs) whose goals are to increase their outreach and the impact of their narratives. I look at it here as a practice by individuals embedded in a specific context that shape their ways of doing things. Digital diplomacy is analyzed not principally as a tool or instrument of IOs, but as an activity undertaken by improvising agents that select from a repertoire of narrative practices. I take the Twitter war between Canada/NATO and Russia in August 2014 as illustration. This makes sense of how new technologies have transformed the way diplomats in IOs communicate and publicly engage with their audiences. All this contribute to theoretical discussions about agency and change in world politics and a better understanding of how diplomats in IOs promote their narratives.