Russian Foreign Ministry Sends Evacuation Info to 20 000 Russian Tourists in Egypt via Social Media
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The Russian Foreign Ministry expands its digital diplomacy toolbox, the most recent example being the mass-messaging of information about the evacuation from Egypt to Russian tourists on VKontakte (or VK), Russia’s most popular social network, due to the flight suspension ordered on November 6.
On Sunday, a regional Ivanovo website first reported that Russian tourists in Egypt had received direct messages from the official group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), launched in June, detailing the evacuation from Egypt. It was pointed out in particular that even those users who were registered under fake names received messages, and that no one requested information from tour companies.VK spokesperson Georgy Lobushkin and Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova commented on this issue to the Internet news website TJournal. According to Lobushkin, MFA representatives approached VK and requested to help spread an already posted message. VK suggested using a new function, tested since October, that allows public groups to send direct messages to users. Lobushkin also explained that messages were sent to users who got online on VK from the territory of Egypt in last two weeks. Thus, neither VK, nor the MFA needed to request information from tour companies.
Maria Zakharova confirmed that the Foreign Ministry cooperated with VK and said that this action carried out jointly with the Russian government and other state agencies was effective: “Our goal was mass notification, and we managed to achieve it. [VK] was not the only possibility, as one of the options it proved effective: even if it reached only 15%, we would still need to use this tool.” She also noted that the MFA could not carry out a similar mass notification on Facebook, as decision-making there takes much longer, and in general praised cooperation with VK.
Later on Sunday, LIVE Plus, a community close to the VK team, specified that approximately 20 thousand VK users received the notification message and also explained how it was disseminated: “It was the VK team who was in charge of mass-messaging, and no personal data was given to third parties. As an exception, the MFA’s message was sent even to those users who were not subscribed to the ministry’s group: VK feels it is our duty to warn our users about emergency situations when their safety and well-being may be at risk.”
In preparation for possible emergencies in the future, the Russian Foreign Ministry should also utilize such alert services as Google Public Alerts and Twitter Alerts.
It is noteworthy, that while official MFA accounts on Facebook, VK and Twitter, run from Moscow, posted evacuation details, Russian missions in Egypt (the embassy, its consular section and the consulate-general) have not (as of Sunday night) informed followers of their social media accounts even about the very flight suspension.
The Russian Foreign Ministry already has experience in using new ICT for notifying Russian citizens abroad. Since 2013, there is a Situational Crisis Center within the MFA, which is responsible, inter alia, for notifications of citizens. Last year, this center released a mobile app “Foreign Assistant”, which allows users to get information about a country they visit, contact Russian mission in that country and to receive notifications from the Situational Crisis Center. Yet, the app is still in the test mode, and its reach is small (1000-5000 downloads on Google Play, and only 11 rankings on iTunes). Besides, previously it was announced that the MFA cooperated with MTS, one of Russia’s largest mobile operators, informing Russians traveling abroad, including mass text messaging with notifications.
