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

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Abstract

This study considers US public diplomacy efforts in Northeast Asia in the context of the country’s foreign policy ‘pivot’ toward the region. Focused specifically on American efforts to communicate online with publics in China, Japan and South Korea, this research examines embassy social media feeds in order to characterize the most visible aspects of American PD 2.0 in the region. Findings indicate that despite the interactive potential of these online tools, the US approach to public diplomacy in the online context remains overwhelmingly unilateral, with one-way messaging the norm and instances of engagement with the target publics exceedingly rare. Implications of these findings are discussed.

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Notes

  1. For ease of discussion each individual message unit is referred to as a ‘tweet’.

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T Metzgar, E., Lu, X. Tweeting the pivot? The United States and PD 2.0 in Northeast Asia. Place Brand Public Dipl 11, 204–215 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2015.3

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