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For International Women’s Day 2020, a group of digital diplomats came together to share a single message through a joint Twitter thread. 

Building on past campaigns to mark International Human Rights Day 2019 and International Women’s Day 2019, 13 embassies in Washington, DC — @ItalyinUS, @SpainInTheUSA, @SwedeninUSA, @SwissEmbassyUSA, @ARGinUSA, @FinlandInUSA, @IsraelinUSA, @NLintheUSA, @franceintheus, @GermanyinUSA, @EmbamexEUA, @DenmarkinUSA, and @CanEmbUSA / @AmbCanEUA — together with the Digital Diplomacy Coalition (@digidiplomats), used their social media presence to bring attention to International Women’s Day 2020.

Working as a united diplomatic front, the group shared a single message divided among their accounts to highlight the importance of advancing a gender-equal and inclusive world, where all people are #EachForEqual and members of #GenerationEquality seeking to make a positive difference.

Like all digital conversations, we hope to see others share and join the thread, and take real world steps toward positive change.

#DiplomacyUnited IWD 2020 – Curated tweets by DigiDiplomats

#DiplomacyUnited is an informal community originating from the first international digital diplomacy conference held in Stockholm in 2014. The group has continued to collaborate over the years, and has also grown to include additional embassies and organizations.

For International Women’s Day in 2019, a group of digital diplomats and allies tried something new: they shared a Twitter thread, a coordinated campaign on Facebook and Instagram, and a common objective.

The informal group, a legacy of the first international digital diplomacy conference held in Stockholm in 2014, has long recognized the importance of fostering an environment in which issues of global importance could be discussed on-line. Over the years, the group has shared ideas, hashtags and best practices.

On March 8th, they decided to take their collaboration public. Eight embassies in Washington, DC (@ukinusa, @euintheus, @SwedeninUSA, @swissembassyUSA, @italyinUS, @spainintheUSA, @canembUSA) together with offices in the US government (@genderatstate), the Freedom Forum Institute’s NewseumED (@NewseumED), and the Digital Diplomacy Coalition (@digidiplomats), used their social media presence to bring attention to the harassment of women on-line. They started with a Twitter thread stating their common objective and sharing facts. They also shared the content on Facebook and Instagram.

The effort was even turned into a Twitter Moment!

Discussion of global issues has grown more vibrant over the years and many of the the people with their fingers on the keyboard have been instrumental in shaping that environment. There is growing evidence that women are less and less safe participating in civil discourse online, so it is imperative that institutions do their part to keep them engaged. International Women’s Day is the perfect opportunity to send this unified message.

Like all digital conversations, digital diplomats hope to see it grow and for new ideas to emerge from the effort, and we urge others to join us!