​People's diplomacy (aka citizen diplomacy) is when the relations between the countries and cities are maintained and developed by the residents of these countries and cities. As for the local governments, their task is to facilitate this process and create new occasions for these exchanges.

Public diplomacy, in its turn, is performed at the state level and represents a diplomatic way to expand the influence that this state has on the population of foreign countries. Professor Natalya Tsvetkova from Saint Petersburg State University has studied this question for many years while using the United States as the example. And each lesson from her course "US Public Diplomacy"  is filled with small but interesting details.

For example, that the "Congress", whose Library funded the Open World international exchange program, is actually the lower house of the US Parliament.

Or that, since 2010, the ugly term of "propaganda" has been replaced by the meaningful "strategic communication" – this is how brief information campaigns on social networks are called.

Or that all radio and TV programs broadcast by US companies to international audiences must be approved by the United States Agency for Global Media, one of the agencies of the US Federal Government, "independent", but funded directly by the state.

No, this course is not about turning off the router, deleting you VPN application and descending into paranoia because all media are engaged in malicious propaganda for the sake of influencing our actions.

Because, first, to influence the reader or the viewer is the purpose of each and every publication – and the job of its creators.

Maybe, if we remind ourselves that news and SM posts are someone's job and that they pursue specific tasks... Then we will be able react to them more calmly and analyze them with a greater interest.