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

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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
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