Abstract
This paper explores the semiotic transformation of diplomatic protocol language within the broader context of digital diplomacy, focusing on both video-mediated interactions and communication across social media platforms. In an era where diplomacy increasingly unfolds on Zoom, X (formerly Twitter), or Instagram, traditional communicative rituals of formality, distance, and hierarchy are reconfigured through new symbolic codes. Drawing on classical and contemporary semiotic theory (Peirce, Barthes, Eco), this study examines how meaning is constructed and performed in mediated diplomatic settings—from virtual summits to curated ambassadorial posts. Attention is given to visual and verbal elements: camera framing, attire, emojis, hashtags, speech formulas, and even silence or strategic vagueness. By analyzing representative cases of official communications from ministries of foreign affairs, ambassadors, and state leaders, the paper highlights how social platforms become arenas of symbolic performance, identity negotiation, and soft power projection. These hybrid forms of communication not only reshape protocol, but also raise new tensions between accessibility and authority, spontaneity and strategy. The paper contributes to a broader understanding of diplomacy as a semiotic field of practice where media logics, aesthetic choices, and symbolic codes intertwine, challenging classical distinctions between public discourse, ritual performance, and mediated authority.
Presenters
Elisabeta JalaboiStudent, PhD Candidate, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Iasi, Romania
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
DIGITAL DIPLOMACY, PROTOCOL AS PERFORMANCE, MULTIMODAL SEMIOTICS, PLATFORMED COMMUNICATION, SYMBOLIC AUTHORITY, DIPLOMATIC DISCOURSE, SOCIAL MEDIA DIPLOMACY
