The Long Road to Public Diplomacy 2.0: The Internet in US Public Diplomacy

Abstract

The United States has a long history of deploying new technology as a mechanism for public diplomacy (the conduct of foreign policy by engagement with foreign publics) but it was relatively slow to make full use of the on‐line technologies known as Web 2.0. This essay reviews the early work of the US Information Agency (1953–1999) in the field of computer and on‐line communications, noting the compatibility of a networking approach to USIA's institutional culture. The essay then traces the story forward into the work of the units within the US Department of State which took over public diplomacy functions in 1999. The article argues that this transition deserves a large part of the blame for the difficulty which the risk‐averse State Department displayed in embracing first the web and then the full range of qualities associated with Web 2.0. The State Department has emphasized one‐way broadcast media rather than two‐way relational media and functions connected with listening and exchange diplomacy were subordinated to advocacy. The essay also notes the challenge of a non‐diplomatic agency—the Department of Defense—playing a dominant role in digital and other forms of outreach at some points in the process. The essay ends by noting the recent evolution of the State Department's approach to digital media and the emergence of a non‐governmental model for American digital outreach (known by the acronym SAGE) which may overcome many of the institutional limits experienced thus far and provide a way to bring together the relational priorities of the New Public Diplomacy with the relational capacities of Web 2.0 technology.

Public Spheres and Mediated Social Networks in the Western Context and Beyond

“…Most notably, in terms of international affairs, we have seen the emergence of the so-called CNN effect, in which public opinion has been mobilised through the rise of 24/7 global news programming. As far back as 1968, Leonard Marks (then head of the USIA) predicted that a 'golden age of world peace' could be afforded by a global communications process resulting from the networking of computers (Cull 2012). Moreover, as Richard Barbrook demonstrated, the coordination of US military and industrial forces in constructing an embryonic vision of the Internet in the 1960s effected a utopian vision of a computerised future in which global emancipation founded upon the American version of free market modernity would predominate (Barbrook 2007:182-183).…”

Tweeting the pivot? The United States and PD 2.0 in Northeast Asia

“…While several studies have considered American efforts to engage publics in the online environment (Hayden, 2012(Hayden, , 2013Khatib et al, 2012;Metzgar, 2012;Newsom and Lengel, 2012;Vanc, 2012;Cull, 2013), with some studies focused specifically on countries in Northeast Asia (Seo, 2009;Lu, 2011, 2013;Lee and Jun, 2013;Seo and Kinsey, 2013), such work has considered only the intent of outreach efforts. No study known to us has systemically analyzed the actual content produced by a US embassy, evaluating it for evidence of characteristics understood to be representative of effective relationship management techniques.…”

“…This is a reasonable approach to the study of PD 2.0 as practiced by the United States since, by 2013, nearly all public affairs sections in American embassies worldwide were employing social media, with Facebook and Twitter being the most commonly used tools (Rugh, 2014). Cull (2013) has identified three characteristics associated with the phenomenon of PD 2.0. The first concerns the capacity of interactive technology to facilitate the creation of relationships around social networks and online communities.…”

Toward a Model of Strategic Influence, International Broadcasting, and Global Engagement

“…Foreign policy is adjusted to foreign opinion, not simply thrust at it. Cull (2013) argues that cultural exchange where both sides of the exchanges learn about each other. He also makes the case that broadcasting that is objective news lowers filtering.…”