Getting digital diplomacy right: what quantum theory can teach us about measuring impact

Abstract

The issue of maximizing the impact and effectiveness of digital diplomacy has become high on the agenda of many ministries of foreign affairs (MFAs). What impact means in the digital context, how to capture it and how best to make use of it are questions that nevertheless remain poorly understood. Drawing heuristically on quantum theory, the article argues that the nature of the impact and the method of measuring it are two facets of the same ontological construct. The very act of measuring shapes the type of impact we may seek to capture. Getting digital diplomacy right on paper cannot therefore be reduced to an exercise of fine-tuning quantitative metrics. It involves a more complex approach that takes into account active listening to online conversations, careful prioritization of short and long-term objectives, hybridization of online/offline diplomatic agendas, mixed modes of engagement and creative mechanisms of adaptation.