PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND SOCIAL MEDIA
2.2. The Practice of Countries on Public Diplomacy 2.0
The United States was one of the first countries to realize the importance of the Internet for promoting their own national interests abroad. Already since the 90's 20th century the US government seeks to directly appeal to a foreign Internet audience. So, in 1994 the radio station
"Voice of America" has launched its own website, on which audio clips of programs broadcast on the air in 15 foreign languages, available to download for all people, were uploaded. In 1995, the US Information Agency followed its example, also creating an official Internet page whose content
was aimed at clarifying the foreign policy of the US government, understanding global problems of world politics, assessing economic changes in the world, familiarizing with the specifics of American society (including information on its political values and ideals).
Despite the potential of the Internet, its role in the implementation of foreign policy objectives of the United States until the early 2000s was very limited. Although this period of time is characterized by rather high growth rates of the number of users of the World Wide Web, nevertheless their number in some regions of the world (primarily in Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe) was significantly inferior to the US audience (the share of American citizens in 1995 was 62, 3%, and in 2000 - 31.3% of the total number of Internet users in the world).
By the mid-2000's the ability of the Internet to influence the foreign audience has increased dramatically, which was due to both serious transformations in the framework of public diplomacy and the rapid development of information and communication technologies (here and after - ICT).
After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, traditional approaches to public diplomacy were rethought. Increasingly, experts were beginning to talk about the need to analyze public opinion abroad when conducting foreign policy of the state.
Xin Zhonga, Jiayi Lua (2013) investigated the practices of U.S. embassy public diplomatic communication via social media, blogging sites using Tencent for a case study. Results have shown that "American politics and society" such as human right, freedom and peace are the most discussed topics in the blogs and micro-blogs of the embassy. Foreign embassies in China are authoritative sources of information and, obviously, are primary envoys in traditional public diplomatic communication. However, a more personalized expression has acquired great importance in the new information environment; Now, Chinese-Americans and US diplomats in China are the most common sources of information about social networking platforms.
Experienced in writing in Chinese and keen on personal communication, these writers can avoid misunderstandings caused by linguistic differences, and their works resonate with the target audience, reflecting people's point of view of people. The authors suppose that the embassy manages blogs and micro-blog sites both in Tencent and Sina to cover the diversity of Chinese audiences, because Tencent is focused primarily on young people, and Sina is focused on the elite amore group. The embassy also created outreach blogs to reach audiences from second- and third tier- cities in China. In particular, the embassy suggests that the leaders of public opinion and public figures in the blogosphere will be the main target audiences.
China possesses a number of mass media assets that promote and express their point of view on policy and events (Simons, 2014). The People’s Daily Online is one of those assets. It is available in Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, English, Arabic, Japanese and Korean. In addition to business and financial news, a number of topics appear at the top of the homepage including news, opinions, China military, foreign affairs, learn Chinese, China study and forum. A glance over the news offered tends to agree with the style of topics of Chinese PD that was described by Yang Jiechi (Yang, 2011, as cited in Simons, 2014). The format, content and purpose of the above are very similar. All seek to explain China’s policy position and to promote Chinese language and culture. Web-based TV media have also been developed and provide another format for foreign audiences. Simons says that the Chinese efforts seem to be directed at the tasks of increasing foreign public awareness of China and its viewpoints, managing China’s international reputation and altering foreign public attitudes towards China. During South China Sea, China tried to portray itself as a peaceful, constructive and progressive power. Instead of being presented as the aggressor in the South China Sea dispute, China is presented as taking a level-headed approach and defending its legitimate national interests. Specific mention is made of the US ‘Pivot towards Asia’ as
evidence of hidden geopolitical interests (People’s Daily Online, 2014, as cited in Simons, 2014).
The Chinese narrative and message follow the conceptual basis of China’s strategic narratives in projecting itself as a country with peaceful intentions, seeking harmony, peace and mutually beneficial interactions, but still emphasizing its right to defend its interests, if necessary.
Steffen Rasmussen (2009) made an attempt to research a self- image of EU and what kind of images EU deliver to its citizens and foreign audience. The messages identified in the EU external policy communications strategy are therefore aimed to legitimize EU external policy, arguing for the value and the efficiency of its activities. A first group of messages responds to the question of ‘why’ the EU has a foreign policy in the first place. A second group of messages responds to the question of what the EU external policy is about. The argument is that the EU is effective in promoting stability, prosperity, democracy and human rights, and that it delivers concrete results in the fight to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development. The third cluster of messages seeks to explain how the EU acts externally through the support of regional integration and a rule-based international order, and works for multilateralism as a way of solving global problems. The theme of climate change is a good example of how internal haggling in the EU over emissions quotas and binding obligations does not necessarily hinder the EU and its member states from together transmitting the core EU messages on the topic: that climate change is a serious problem, that the EU is doing something about it, and that a multilateral approach is the only way forward.
CHAPTER III.