THE DIGITALIZATION OF DIPLOMACY AND SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE: A RESEARCH ON EMBASSY FACEBOOK ACCOUNTS

Year 2019, Volume: 8 Issue: 1, 1 - 13, 01.03.2019

Mehmet Fatih Çömlekçi

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study is to put forward the effects of new communication technologies to public
diplomacy within the “digital diplomacy” conceptual framework via case studies concerning social media
activities.

Method: For this purpose, Facebook shares and interactions (e.g. comment, like, re-share) covering the
period of May-October 2018 in Facebook accounts of the Finland Embassy in Ankara and United Kingdom
Embassy in Ankara, chosen as case studies, have been examined via content analysis method. In addition to
that, two Facebook accounts have been compared within the scope of proactive use of social media,
openness to interaction and use of multimedia features.

Results: It is concluded that proactive social media use (promoting shares, benefiting social media
celebrities, using interactive social media features) within the context of digital diplomacy enables that the
promoted policies and aspects of a country are widely disseminated by increasing user interaction. Also, it
has been observed that shares and strategies of diplomatic social media accounts examined as case studies,
are consistent with the foreign policy goals of that specific countries.

Keywords

Public diplomacy, digital diplomacy, social media, new media and communication

DİJİTALLEŞEN DİPLOMASİ VE SOSYAL MEDYA KULLANIMI: BÜYÜKELÇİLİK FACEBOOK HESAPLARI ÜZERİNE BİR ARAŞTIRMA

Abstract

Amaç: Çalışmanın amacı, yeni iletişim teknolojilerinin kamu diplomasisine olan etkilerini “dijital diplomasi”
kavramsal çerçevesinde ve örnek sosyal medya faaliyetleri vasıtasıyla ortaya koymaktır.

Yöntem: Bu amaçla, örnek olay olarak belirlenen Birleşik Krallık ve Finlandiya Ankara Büyükelçilik
Facebook hesaplarından Mayıs 2018 - Ekim 2018 tarihleri arasında yapılan paylaşımlar ve etkileşimler
(yorum, beğeni, yeniden paylaşım) içerik analizi metodu yardımıyla incelenmiştir. Finlandiya ve Birleşik
Krallık hesapları ürettikleri içerik ve sosyal medya stratejileri çerçevesinde ayrı ayrı değerlendirildikten
sonra sosyal medyanın proaktif kullanımı, kullanılan multimedya araçları ve etkileşime açıklık bağlamında
aralarında bir karşılaştırma da yapılmıştır.

Bulgular: Çalışma ile dijital diplomasi bağlamındaki proaktif sosyal medya kullanımının (paylaşımların
reklamlarla öne çıkarılması, sosyal medya fenomenlerinden faydalanma, etkileşimsel sosyal medya
özelliklerini kullanma vb.) kullanıcılarla olan etkileşimi arttırarak ülkelerin öne çıkardıkları yönlerinin ve
politikalarının daha geniş bir kitleye yayılmasını sağladığı sonucuna varılmıştır. Ayrıca örnek vakadaki
diplomatik sosyal medya hesaplarının strateji ve paylaşımlarının o ülkelerin dış politika hedefleriyle uyumlu
olduğu görülmüştür. 

Keywords

Kamu diplomasisi, dijital diplomasi, sosyal medya, yeni medya ve iletişim

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