This document discusses Italy's use of digital diplomacy and engagement on social media platforms. It promotes Italy's culture and values of discovery, innovation and research through an interactive "Italian-style piazza" on social media where people can learn about and discuss Italy. The goal is to create greater understanding and connection with people in an engaging way.
Imagine an Italian piazza: it’s embedded in our culture; It’s where Italians meet, go to get coffee, stroll on weekends with family and/or friends, go for a gelato during a hot summer day, sit down on a bench to read your newspaper… The Italian piazza, a symbol of our culture, is also a symbol of Italy’s public diplomacy and digital diplomacy efforts in the United States: a way to engage our audiences and nurture a dialogue.
The building that houses the Italian Embassy in Washington DC is very conducive of the idea of the Italian piazza: For those who have visited us before, you probably already had the ‘piazza’ experience; The building itself showcases the Italian piazza: we usually refer to the main hall, where most of our events take place, as Piazza Italia.
The EU Open House was dedicated this past spring to “Un Sabato Italiano,” a typical Saturday in the piazza.
The piazza has now moved to the Internet thanks to the Embassy’s social media presence
An example is our Social Media Hub, a one pager where people can contact us, browse our social media platforms, engage with us and the Ambassador.
We try to use simple, free tools to expand on our social media presence and facilitate our audiences in establishing a contact with us: an example is the use of MapBox to showcase our social media presence in the US through the Embassy, our Consulates, and our Italian Cultural Institutes around the country.
Back to the idea of the ‘piazza’, our social media platforms are useful in centralizing all efforts in situation of crisis, like during hurricane Sandy, during which we broadcast contact numbers, updates, info…
We also use the social media ‘piazza’ to listen to our audiences, what the Romans calles ‘vox populi’: social media give us the sentiment of our citizens towards Italy’s foreign policy and activity in the US; it gives us an idea of how our American audience can be better understand Italy and the relations between Italy and the US.
2013 Year of Italian Culture is a good example of how traditional public diplomacy and digital efforts can merge. The idea is to present Italy’s heritage and legacy and focus on what Italy is today and how the country is moving forward: innovation, discovery, research.
Italy in numbers: our presence in the US well describes our past, present, and future.
Tradition and digital presence have been the key inspirations for our Digital Diplomacy: with it we try to engage the diplomatic and academic community, as well as all the practitioners with the goal of sharing new ideas, best practices, developments, innovative way of engaging with our audiences.
Our latest 2013 event – the presentation of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Codex on the Flight of Birds at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC – harnesses Italy’s legacy and spirit of innovation. Who better than Leonardo to look at how Italy is moving forward.
During his presentation at the Air and Space Museum, Ambassador Bisogniero wore GoogleGlass for the first time in public, a way to show how at the Embassy we’re eager to experiment on new tools and better our engagement/dialogue with our audiences. At the presentation, the Ambassador said: "There is no better way to talk about creativity, than with Leonardo, and to celebrate his genius and spirit of innovation, through the future of technology," he said. "As you can see, today I am wearing GoogleGlass, testing a promising tool, also for digital diplomacy. Inspired by Leonardo, we are exploring new ways to foster a dialogue with our audiences, on Italy's legacy; as well as a true desire to discover and innovate in all areas."