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Photo of Elsa Hedling

Elsa Hedling

Researcher

Photo of Elsa Hedling

Emotional labour in digital diplomacy: perceptions and challenges for European diplomats

Author

  • Elsa Hedling

Summary, in English

Social media are increasingly important tools in diplomacy. Diplomats are expected to use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to communicate with each other and with both domestic and international publics. This form of communication involves displaying positive emotions to generate attention in a competitive information environment. Emotions are essential to managing perceptions, conveying signals and safeguarding state reputation in traditional diplomacy. Commercial demands of online performance however activate new dimensions and challenges in the management of emotions in diplomacy. As digital disinformation and populist campaigns have transgressed the boundaries of domestic public debate, diplomats must also display emotional restraint to contain and counter such influence. This article analyses how diplomats perceive demands of digital diplomacy and how emotions are engaged in their efforts to perform competently both online and offline. The study draws on field work and interviews with 13 European diplomats as well as document analysis of handbooks and training material used to transfer ‘emotional communication skills’ to Swedish diplomats. The study findings suggest that demands of digital diplomacy are challenging traditional enactments of ‘the good diplomat’. In addition to the tensions between outreach and countering communication practices, the emotional labour in digital diplomacy extends beyond what we see on social media. Diplomats perceive the expectations of constant performance online to at times conflict with their professional role offline.

Department/s

  • Department of Political Science

Publishing year

2023-02-01

Language

English

Pages

29-47

Publication/Series

Emotions and Society

Volume

5

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Bristol University Press

Topic

  • Political Science
  • Media and Communications

Status

Published

Project

  • Digital Diplomacy in a Turbulent Global World

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2631-6897