‘Twiplomacy’ an important tool for diplomats to communicate with people — Millett

AMMAN — Social media can be used as an important tool for diplomatic missions to better understand the country and what is on the minds of its people, UK Ambassador to Jordan Peter Millett said Wednesday.

Unlike traditional methods of communication, social media allows direct interaction with people, which should encourage all diplomatic missions to focus on reaching out to Jordanians, Millett added.

“Diplomatic missions need to further adopt social media tools, which can help them realise their objectives,” the British ambassador said at the MediaME Forum 2014 “The Jordan Digital Media Event”.

“If diplomats do not use social media such as Facebook and Twitter, they will not keep up with the younger generation that are using these tools,” Millett noted, highlighting the importance of “Twiplomacy”, which mixes traditional diplomacy with social media.

During the event, representatives of the social media, marketing, telecom and IT sectors also discussed opportunities in the digital gaming industry, whose revenues in the Middle East reached $260 million in 2013 and are growing by 30 per cent every year.

Mohammad Iswaid, co-founder and business development director at the Noqosh Mobile Media Group, said the potential for mobile advertisements is huge in the Middle East and North Africa.

About 10.8 billion ads were published on gaming sites in the Middle East and North Africa in 2013.

Iswaid added that the gaming industry at present is valued at $22 billion globally.

According to figures presented during the event, spending on mobile advertisements in the region ranges between $60 million and $100 million annually.

Participants said about 70 per cent of clicks on mobile advertisements come from Nokia devices, while only 1.9 per cent come from iPhone holders in Jordan.