Brandon Stanton's popular photography blog and Facebook page features often inspirational and thought-provoking interviews with everyday New Yorkers, and it’s grown from strength to strength since its inception in 2010. [...] "The key to all film, really, and certainly to the documentary films we do, is storytelling,” she said. “This is storytelling at its core, at its most visceral. That really appealed to us. People really open themselves up in a way that continues to surprise me."

Digital diplomacy is therefore part of the state’s attempt to remain relevant and to assert power in the digital space. And while the goals of any one initiative might be lauded (as this one can), we need to view and ultimately assess it as only one component of a wider suite of digital foreign policy actions. Taken as a whole, digital foreign policy is fraught with challenges and hypocrisies.