Xin Zhong Jiayi Lu- Public Diplomacy Model in the Era of Web 2.0 ...

Public Diplomacy Model in the Era of Web 2.0:
The Study of US Embassy’s Public Diplomacy in China
Xin Zhong Jiayi Lu
Xin Zhong: professor, doctoral supervisor, deputy head of public communication research center,
Journalism School of Renmin University of China
Jiayi Lu: press officer assistant, Embassy of Finland in China
Abstract
Nations all around the world are more interdependent due to globalization. It means that enhancing
mutual trust as well as mutual understanding becomes the major goal of developing international
relations and practicing public diplomacy. Social media based on Web 2.0 technologies, such as blog,
microblog, video-sharing media, give the public much more space of expressing their ideas, and create
inter-personal, individualized and multiple communication channels for public diplomacy too. For that
reason, studying the public diplomacy model, with Web 2.0 technologies as background, has
remarkable theoretical value and practical meaning. Sino-US relation is one of the most important
international relations nowadays; what’s more, the United States is playing a leading role in making use
of new media including social media to strengthen its public diplomacy in China and promote its
relation with China. Given the above consideration, the case study of US Embassy’s public diplomacy
in China is of inevitably typical significance.
This article studies US Embassy’s official website and its officials’ blogs and microblogs, analyses the
discourse of online interactive communication between embassy officials and Chinese people, studies
US Embassy’s official documents, and makes in-depth interviews with the officials from public affairs
section, press and cultural section, etc,. From three dimensions: online interaction, offline interaction
and combined online-offline interaction, the article finds out the characteristics of US Embassy’s public
diplomacy in China in terms of communication subject, object, content and channel.
The finding shows that US public diplomacy in China has following striking characteristics: it extends
from key cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, to the western area and from elite group to general public.
The communication focusing core agenda is replaced by multi-agenda communication. One-way
information diffusion model turns into two-way instant interaction model. The embassy takes the
initiative to contact the media and prepare tailor-made content rather than waiting for the media to
submit the interview proposal. The embassy staff not only goes out of the embassy to give speeches, etc,
but also invites Chinese people to visit the embassy. Besides English, the embassy makes use of
Chinese to interact with Chinese people. The former information-based communication is evolving to
organizations’ dialogue and cooperation at multi-levels. The discovery draws the outline of new
communication model of public diplomacy in the era of Web 2.0, and this case study should be taken as
an important reference for developing public diplomacy theory and gathering relative lessons.
In addition, the study pays attention to US Embassy’s cognition of China in the process of its interaction,
dialogue and cooperation with Chinese counterparts at all levels. It shows that US public diplomacy in
China which is advancing American interests not only provides the opportunity for Chinese people to
understand U.S., but also helps American people to have the opportunity to understand China and it has
positive implication for China’s interest. It also reveals the public diplomacy awareness and ability of
Chinese people at all levels from the perspective of American public diplomacy practitioners.
Key Words:
public diplomacy model, Web 2.0 , online, offline and combined online-offline interactions
1

“One constant in public diplomacy has been its early adoption of new technologies, whether it was radio,
motion pictures, high-speed printing, television or the Internet.” 1 However, technology is not self-made
or exists independently but constructed by various social factors; meanwhile it brings about new
communication models. Since the 1990s, the Internet-borderless, fast and equal-became the major
communication media. Upon the 21 st century when globalization strengthened the inter-dependence
among nations, enhancing mutual trust and recognition became the important target for developing
international relations and practicing public diplomacy. Thanks to the development of the Internet,
public diplomacy started to extend from the “real” platform to the “virtual” one. In particular, social
media based on Web 2.0 technologies, such as blog and micro-blogging, endowed the public who are
normally at the end of communication value chain with more power to say; what’s more, it created
inter-personal, personalized and multiple communication channels for public diplomacy.
Sino-US relation is one of the most important international relations nowadays, and the United States is
in the leading place in the area of strengthening public diplomacy by means of new media including
social media. In that case, the article takes the U.S. Embassy’s public diplomacy in China under new
media context as an example, explores the U.S. Embassy’s new public diplomacy model in China
through macro-view topic analysis, middle-view narration analysis, micro-view source of information
analysis and embedded communication model analysis.
Public Diplomacy: New Strategy for “War of Ideas” 2 in New Media Context
Since 9/11, American people ranging from US president to the general public have continuously asked
one question: “Why do they hate us?” The United States became the only superpower since the end of
cold war. In 1999, the United States Information Agency (USIA)-the real actor of public diplomacy
during the cold war-was merged into the U.S. Department of State, and Voice of America (VOA) was
subordinated to International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB). The explanation that American politicians
gave was: do we still need them when our enemy does not exist anymore? 9/11 attacks let US
government to reconsider the importance of public diplomacy. Before long, Charlotte Beers and Karen
Hughes, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in Bush administration,
successively launched “Shared Values Campaign” in 2001 and “Middle-east Listening Tour” in 2005
targeted at the Moslem World with the purpose of repairing US image in the middle-east. Unfortunately,
two large-scale public diplomacy activities were unsuccessfully viewed by people in the middle-east as
“arrogant” “defensive”.
The Internet narrowed the real distance between the United States and the middle-east, and it also
endowed them both with almost equal communication opportunities. From that point of view, it’s fairly
normal that the public diplomacy activities with “one-way” imprint which was popular in the cold war
did not bring about positive results. Al Jazeera English channel, one of the three biggest 24-hour
English news channels in the world, reached American audience through the virtual platforms, such as
YouTube, Livestation and Twitter, while before that American audience could not watch the channel
since “most cable and satellite carriers have apparently decided it would be politically unwise to offer
the channel” 3 In addition, state and non-state actors in the middle east started to make use of web-based
platforms to set up the websites for distributing pan-Arabic or pan-Islamic information in a greater area.
4 Under new media background, the traditional model of US public diplomacy is faced with challenges.
In the end of 2008, James K. Glassman, then Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public
Affairs, listed the challenges that US public diplomacy was faced in the context of new media and
proposed the term “Public Diplomacy 2.0”: the public diplomacy that is based on Web 2.0 or social
media technologies. He regarded it as the best way to cope with the challenges 5 and the important
strategy to implement “War of Ideas” in the era of Web 2.0.
“Landing” of Public Diplomacy 2.0: Case Study of US Embassy’s Public Diplomacy in China
2

As the real actor of US public diplomacy in China, US Embassy in China is one of the forerunners
among the foreign embassies in China to make use of social media, such as blog and micro-blogging, to
interact with Chinese public. Since 2009, US Embassy in China launched blogs and micro-bloggings on
two major portals in China-Tencent(qq.com) and Sina(sina.com)-with names of “US Embassy in
China” “US Education Online” “US Visa”, etc. The following tables list US Embassy’s blogs and
micro-bloggings:
Table 1: US Embassy’s Blogs:
Name of Blog Platform Launching Time
US Embassy in
China
Tencent
Sina
Nov. 12, 2009, before the first official visit of
President Obama to China
May 20, 2010, before the opening of the Second
Round of Sino-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue
in Beijing
US Education
Douban
Sep. 28, 2010, US universities’ application season
starts
Online
Sina
Sep. 28, 2010, US universities’ application season
starts
US Visa Sina
May 8, 2009, before peak season of US visa
application
Henan Outreaching
Team
Tencent Mar. 3, 2009
Shaanxi
Outreaching Team
Tencent Jul. 23, 2009
Shandong
Outreaching Team
Tencent Oct. 13, 2009
Table 2: US Embassy’s Micro-bloggings:
Name of Microblogging
US Consulate General
in Guangzhou
Jon Huntsman’s microblogging
Platform
Twitter
US Embassy in China Sina
US Embassy Visa
Section
Tencent Apr. 7, 2010
Sina
From the above two tables, writer tries to conclude:
Firstly, US Embassy’s blogs and micro-bloggings are normally named “Jon Huntsman”-the name of US
Ambassador to China, and “education” and “visa” which are of Chinese public’s concerns. They
distribute information to the targeted audiences in China.
Secondly, the launching times of blogs and micro-bloggings are often right before the happening of
certain important diplomatic events. For example, the blog at Tencent was launched in November 2009,
before the first official visit paid by US President Obama to China; the visa blog at Sina was launched
before the peak season of US visa application.
3
Launching Time
Nov. 12, 2009, before the first official visit
of President Obama to China
May 21, 2010, before the opening of the
Second Round of Sino-US Strategic and
Economic Dialogue in Beijing
Jun. 11, 2010, before peak season of US
visa application

First-level
Topics
Secondlevel
Topics
Texts/
Percentage
Thirdly, the Internet helps expand the target group of US public diplomacy in China. For instance,
outreaching teams’ blogs realize the interaction between the US Embassy or US Consulate Generals and
Chinese public who are often overlooked due to they are far away from the embassy or consulate
generals.
Fourthly, US Embassy’s blogs and micro-bloggings on different web-based platforms are highly
overlapped in terms of content.
Communication of ideas is eventually achieved through the output of textual meaning. With the purpose
of finding out how the United States interacts with Chinese public with ideas in the context of new
media, the article analyzes US Embassy’s blog texts from three dimensions, which are macro-view
topic analysis—“what to say”, middle-view narration analysis—“how to say” and micro-view source of
information analysis—“who is saying”; what’s more, the writer tries to summarize the communication
model of Public Diplomacy 2.0 by analyzing the communication pattern of US Embassy’s microblogging.
With regard to the highly overlapped contents of different blogs and micro-bloggings 6 , the
article takes the earliest US Embassy’s blog at Tencent 7 and US Ambassador Jon Huntsman’s microblogging
at Tencent 8 as examples.
Firstly, Topics—Keeping Closer to Chinese Public, Highlighting American Society, US Cultural
Exchange with China and Bilateral Relations
By March 31, 2011, there are 371 texts on US Embassy’s Tencent blog. The writer tries to classify the
texts based on topics:
Table 3: Topic List of US Embassy’s Tencent Blog:
Politics
Society
Politics Society
Life
Culture
People
172/46.9%
Bilateral
Relations
State
Visit
s
55/15.0%
US
Ambassador’s
Activities
in China
Economy
Trade
------
3
4
Environment
Energy
Technology
Climate
Change
7
Social
Media
Cultural
Exchanges
with China
------
81/22.1%
Education
Visa
Educa
-tion,
Study
in US
The table above shows that the first-level topics-“Politics and Society” “Cultural Exchanges with
China” and “Bilateral Relations”-are among the top three, which means introducing American society,
cultural exchanges with China as well as Sino-US bilateral relations are the core agenda of US public
diplomacy in China. The writer tries to segment the topic “Politics and Society” into second-level topics
and finds out that the texts about “Society, Life, Culture and People” are 167, accounting for 97%, and
the number of the texts under much smaller topics, such as “Revenue and Consumption” “Social
Security” is more than that under the serious topic of “US Politics”, which exhibits that US Embassy
tends to narrow the psychological distance with Chinese public by displaying the pictures of ordinary
American people’s lives.
Picture 1: Blogs about “Revenue and Consumption” and “Society Security”:
13
Visa
Poli
-cy
Oth
ers
-----
40

Revenue &
Consumption
Social Security
“Cultural Exchanges with
China” is one dimension of traditional US public diplomacy in China. In the past, cultural exchanges
were generally achieved by face-to-face inter-personal interaction. The blog technology gives US
Embassy a new tool to implement public diplomacy: informing Chinese public of latest cultural and
artistic events organized by the embassy, interacting with Chinese netizens virtually, etc.
“Bilateral Relations” is one of the core responsibilities undertaken by diplomatic missions overseas.
Traditional media are more inclined to covering the topic from the perspective of politics; whereas new
media tend to keep closer to ordinary people in China. For instance, under the second-level topic of
“State Visits”, US Embassy’s Tencent blog introduces several detailed information that ordinary people
may feel interested, such as who are the guests invited, what is the menu of state banquet.
Secondly, Narration—Focusing on the Interests of Chinese Public, Reflecting Opinions through
Narration
The first-level topics can be segmented into smaller topics which are closer to the general public, yet
how does the blog text narrate so as to reflect the ideas? The article takes 4 blog texts that are under the
second-level topics of “Society, Life, Culture and People” as example, and tries to analyze its narration
frame.
Table 4: Blog Texts under “Housing Price”:
American Family’s Electricity Bill
American Family’s Water Bill
Customers Love Cheap Goods, One-dollar Shops Popular
American Family’s Telephone/Cable TV/Broad-band Bills
American Citizen’s Monthly Cost of Mobile Phone
American Family’s Revenue and Expense: Revenue
American Family’s Revenue and Expense: Expense
Why the Management Fee of Cooperative Apartment in New
York is So High: Answers to Netizens’ Questions
How Much Cost Buying House in US?
Rental in US
Housing Price in US
Foreigners are Interested in American Real Estate Market, As
Same as that in China
Emergency and Aid and Medical Insurance for All People in US
American Senior Citizens’ Right to Work
People from Lower Social Class in US: Foreign Students and
American Senior Citizens of Chinese Origin
People from Lower Social Class in US: Servants at Restaurant
Time Headline Author View/Comment
Jan. 5, 2011 How Much Cost Buying House in US? Jianan, Chinese in US 17912/440
Jan. 10, 2011 Rental in US Jianan, Chinese in US 168717/182
Jan. 11, 2011 Housing Price in US Jianan, Chinese in US 29074/88
Jan. 18, 2011 Foreigners are Interested in American Real
Estate Market, As Same as that in China
Xiao, Chinese in US 364/6
5

Picture 2: Narration Frame of Blog Texts under “Housing Price”:
Housing price increases quickly in China, and it becomes the
topic of Chinese public’s largest concern
“Housing Price” became the hottest topic among Chinese public recently, which is proved by the
statistics of View/Comment shown above. From the narration analysis, 4 blog texts grasp the points-for
instance, housing price-that Chinese public feel most interested and answer the questions raised through
virtual interaction. At the same time, a comprehensive picture of housing rent, housing price as well as
the real estate market in US is shown to Chinese public, and the opinions-the ratio of revenue and cost
with respect to housing price in US is reasonable; real estate market in US is of investment value-are
reflected through narrating.
However, one point needs to be mentioned is that the intention of the author is doubted by netizens and
the author adds “As Same as that in China” into the headline of the fourth blog text in order to be more
balanced, yet little mentioned concerning China’s real estate market in the article.
Thirdly, Sources—Highlighting the Voices from “Chinese in US” and “US diplomat in China”,
More Persuasive and Genial
Besides reflected through narration, opinions can also be shown through different sources of
information.
Picture 3: Sources of Blog Texts:
Organization and People in US Organization and People in China Media from China Others
Picture 4: Quantity of Different Sources:
The real situation of buying houses in US
Netizens ask the questions about renting apartment in US, the author introduces
the situation of renting apartment in US
Netizens ask the questions about housing price in US, the author introduces
the housing price in US in a comprehensive way
Netizens raise doubts about the author’s intentions, and the author clarifies that introducing housing
price in US is with no other intentions, claiming that “this is my personal opinion”
International Person Media Official Commercial
Information
Bureau
US
Embassy
in China
Person
US Citizen Chinese in US Diplomat US Student in China
6

According to picture 3 and 4, three largest sources are “US Embassy in China” “Chinese in US” and
“US Diplomat in China”, accounting for 75% of the total.
Generally speaking, foreign embassies in China are the authoritative source of information concerning
foreign nations in China. The blog technology gives “Chinese in US” and “US Diplomat in China”
much more opportunities to say, and their voices have two strengths: one is to take the advantage of
their Chinese language skills in order to avoid misunderstanding caused by language differences and the
other is that personal voices are more persuasive and genial. Nevertheless, the function of making use of
blog texts written by Chinese in US needs further consideration since the intentions of the author might
be doubted, as discussed above.
Fourthly, “Embedded” Public Diplomacy Created by Micro-blogging
Blog platform helps the public who are normally at the end of communication value chain to move to
the front and with that tool, US public diplomacy in China seems more segmented, personalized and
genial. Micro-blogging, which can distribute short messages through both wireless and wire-based
channel and shuttle among different social networks swiftly, creates “embedded” public diplomacy 9 .
Based on the analysis of US Embassy’s Tencent micro-blogging, the writer tries to conclude the model
of “embedded” public diplomacy as follows:
1, Communication on the basis of “personal brand”
“Distribution of micro-blogging contents is based on ‘following’ ‘follower’ among micro-bloggers.” 10
The importance of inter-personal trust is highlighted in micro-blogging communication, and the node
with high credibility is much easier to exert influence in the social network. Foreign ambassador to
China, who is the highest figure represented foreign nation in China, is generally viewed by Chinese
public as the person obtains higher credibility. Social media provides foreign ambassadors opportunities
to walk from the backstage to the stage and their personal brands become important nodes in microblogging
communication to attract the general public. For instance, the first micro-blogging launched by
US Embassy in China is the one named “Jon Huntsman”-the name of US Ambassador to China. It is
managed centered on his personal brand-“the first US Ambassador to China arrived in Lhasa since
2002” “US Ambassador to China and his wife take their Chinese daughter to her birth place Yangzhou”
“US Ambassador to China goes grocery shopping by bicycle”, etc. Many texts about Jon Huntsman
become hot nodes to be rebroadcast or commented, for instance, the text “US Ambassador to China
goes grocery shopping by bicycle” attracts 1562 netizens to rebroadcast or comment.
2, Real-time Communication
Although the content of micro-blogging is limited within 140 characters and thus it cannot convey
opinions through narration as what blog does, it can distribute information on multiple terminals
flexibly so as to achieve real-time public diplomacy. For instance, on the morning of May 21 st , 2010,
7

Gary Locke-US Commerce Secretary who came to China to attend the Second Round of Sino-US
Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing-was going to give a speech at Tsinghua University, US
Embassy in China distributed the first micro-blogging at 08:36, and during the whole process, it utilized
the micro-blogging to “live broadcast” the speech and interact with the people who were not present by
virtual means.
3, Integrating Public Diplomacy Resources
“Driving force of micro-blogging’ impact is originated from collaborative content production inspired
by its role as information service platform as well as information circuit based on users’ social networks.
Its essence lies in integrating information resources.” 11 US Embassy’s micro-blogging helps integrate
virtual public diplomacy resources by means of “micro-blogging text + link”, and takes the advantage
of both on-line and off-line public diplomacy resources. For instance, US Embassy releases the latest
information about off-line cultural activities and invites micro-bloggers to win entrance tickets by
answering on-line questions.
Conclusion
Based on the above analysis, the writer tries to conclude the characteristics of US Public Diplomacy 2.0
as:
Firstly, US Embassy in China-the traditional communication subject-has gradually converted from real
actor to chief designer and platform provider. It organizes the virtual public diplomacy resources,
expressing ideas through segmenting topics, setting up narration frame and selecting sources of
information.
Secondly, in view of communication object, virtual space helps US Embassy or Consulate Generals in
China to reach the western areas and Chinese public who are normally overlooked by traditional public
diplomacy with “on-line outreaching teams”. Meanwhile, the communication object that is normally at
the end of communication value chain is given more opportunities to say.
Thirdly, the Internet gives public diplomacy much more communication channels, and the topics which
previously were not be shown thoroughly can be expressed in a more personalized and genial manner.
Fourthly, social media based on Web 2.0 technologies help public diplomacy break through the
traditional limitations in time and space, achieving communication on multiple platforms. In particular,
micro-blogging with “embedded” characteristics helps realize the real-time public diplomacy.
All these might be concluded with what Judith McHale, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy
and Public Affairs in Obama Administration once said “move from an old paradigm, in which our
government speaks as one to many, to a new model of engaging interactively and collaboratively across
lines that might otherwise divide us from people around the world” 12 .
Drawing from the case study shown above, more questions need further research:
Firstly, blog and micro-blogging platforms are mainly used to inform the public of “what I’m doing” at
current stage, and there is still a long way to go to inform the public of “what I’m thinking”, and the
latter is actually the key point of “War of Ideas”. As for how to make use of the voices from Chinese in
US and Chinese media so as to express ideas, it also deserves further study.
Secondly, social media enhance the interaction between communication subject and object, yet the case
study shows that on-line interaction at current stage is still confined to the model of “comment-reply”.
Whether the voices from the public “heard” and is there any feedback after being “heard” still need to
be explored.
Thirdly, social media can help display the same public diplomacy resource on different platforms, but in
light of the importance of personal brand to micro-blogging communication, how to integrate and
distribute information based on respective characteristics of blog and micro-blogging is the key point in
the future research.
1 Barry Fulton, The Uses of Modern Technology in Public Diplomacy, Engaging the Arab & Islamic
8

Worlds through Public Diplomacy: A Report and Action Recommendation, p 23
2 James K. Glassman, Former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, once
mentioned in a speech in 2008 that the United States was adept in “War of Ideas” during the cold war,
but since the collapse of Berlin wall, “War of Ideas” stepped down. 9/11 attacks in 2001 let Bush
administration recognized the importance of “War of Ideas” again.
3 Philip Seib, Transnational Journalism, Public Diplomacy, and Virtual States, p12, see:
http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/Melbourne%202009%20paper.pdf
4 See Philip Seib, Transnational Journalism, Public Diplomacy, and Virtual States,
http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/Melbourne%202009%20paper.pdf
5 See James K. Glassman, Public Diplomacy 2.0: A New Approach to Global Engagement,
http://merln.ndu.edu/archivepdf/nss/state/112605.pdf
6 The writer selects the contents of US Embassy’s blogs at Tencent and Sina, micro-bloggings at
Tencent and Sina from June 1 to December 31, 2010 as the sample pool, and pick out the texts on 5 th ,
10 th , 15 th , 20 th , 25 th and 30 th every month: 25 texts on Tencent and Sina blogs respectively, 100%
matches together; 99 texts and 102 texts on Tencent micro-blogging and Sina micro-blogging
respectively, 95 texts match together.
7 See: http://user.qzone.qq.com/622008844
8 See: http://t.qq.com/USEmbassy
9 This term is inspired by the article Micro-blogging: From Embed-Suit Mechanism to Profit Model by
Yu Guoming
10 Kai-fu Lee, Micro-blogging Changes Everything: Shanghai University of Finance and Economics
Press, 2011, p 60
11 Yu Guoming, Micro-blogging: From Embed-Suit Mechanism to Profit Model
See http://qnjz.dzwww.com/qybg/201008/t20100811_5761018.htm
12 See Helle C. Dale, Public Diplomacy 2.0: Where the U.S. Government Meets “New Media”,
http://origin.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/12/Public-Diplomacy-2-0-Where-the-US-
Government-Meets-New-Media
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