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

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“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
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