Twitplomacy: Social Media as a New Platform for Development of Public Diplomacy

Abstract

Social media, underpinned by mobile devices and smart-technology, is rapidly changing the way how people communicate. In the context of public diplomacy, micro-blogging-based diplomacy, e.g. Twitplomacy is emerging. Twitplomacy has been carried out by not only the central government of a state and relevant organizations, but also millions individuals globally. Twitplomacy has been seen as a new platform expanding the channels of public diplomacy. Its impact on diplomacy policy and international relations tends to be huge but too early to know and difficult to quantify. This paper uses microblogs collected from United States Embassy in China, examined the characteristics and functions of Twitplomacy, the participants and the motivation, as well as the effect of Twitplomacy. The results are insightful to both researchers and practitioners in the community of diplomacy and international relations.