Public diplomacy 2.0 as a tool of foreign political activity

This article examines the public diplomacy 2.0 as a relatively new tool of foreign political activity aimed at creating a positive image of the country abroad. In the modern world of politics it is becoming increasingly important due to such factors as the growing number of World Wide Web users, the decline in the popularity of traditional media and the rapid spread of new media, as well as the transformation of the Internet space into the platform for active political interactions. The key role in implementing the programs of this sector of public diplomacy belongs to foreign Ministry, politicians and social activists, as well as mass media (especially, television channelsё involved in international broadcasting). The analysis of the foreign policy efforts of various countries in the social media roughly demonstrates that public diplomacy 2.0 includes three activity areas: the promotion of content to different hosting services (Flickr, Instagram, YouTube, etc.); the use of microblogging services (Twitter, Tumblr, SinaWeibo, etc.); sharing information in social networks (Facebook, Google+, Second life, etc.). Currently, the main obstacles for the development of public diplomacy 2.0 include the absence of recognized evaluation criteria, low participation of non-governmental organizations in its implementation, as well as the insufficient efforts of foreign ministries of different countries to establish a dialogue with foreign audiences.