A recent report released by the office of Republican Senator Richard Lugar suggests that social media sites such as twitter should serve as a platform for enhancing relations with Latin America. The report stated, “At a time when U.S. political influence is waning in the region, it is clear that U.S. driven technological trends could redefine relationships with many countries in Latin America." As a member of the Council on Foreign Relations Lugar has a unique perspective on U.S. diplomacy and his push for “twitter diplomacy” is in alignment with the global effort to enhance technological infrastructure in the developing world.
In the same way that past inventions like the printing press and telephone changed the way civil society communicated with government leaders, social media has proven to be an equally significant contributor. Websites like twitter and facebook are vehicles for sharing ideas about improving society. Although it may be years before tweets are quoted in the pages of international covenants, tweets and facebook posts alike are effective ways to begin a conversation on how we all can contribute to making the world a better place.
I completely agree with this post and it's relevance to diplomacy. Social media has completely transformed the way in which civil society interacts with their government leaders. In a sense, those who are members of the government must pay close attention to the movement of social media. Long gone are the days that civil society and individuals just write letters to express their concern. Now they can make their concerns public and force government leaders to respond to their requests.
ReplyDeleteDiplomacy has now become more sophisticated and multifaceted. Basically anyone can effectuate change in some way and contribute to the global conversation. Twitter is a perfect example because it gives individuals the opportunity to be a be a leading voice and person of influence for whatever topic they wish.
Chantal, I absolutely agree that twitter is a new form of public diplomacy, particularly in the projection of soft power.
ReplyDeleteWhat we post on twitter (unless we lock our accounts) is essentially open to the world to see. Furthermore, twitter follows what we're all talking about and shares that information at large.
But interestingly, twitter takes much of the control of the message away from the state and it is the projection of the wider culture that gets out to the world. Yes, Obama is one of the most followed people on twitter, but so is Lady Gaga and Ashton Kutcher.
So, in a real sense, the strength of the soft power projected by the United States is dependent on their popularity.
Interesting side note: two of the most influential tweeters (?) are from Brazil. What does that say about the potential for their soft power in the 21st century?