How Social Media Transforms Policymaking Process

HOW SOCIAL MEDIA TRANSFORMS POLICY PROCESS
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HOW SOCIAL MEDIA TRANSFORMS POLICY PROCESS
Introduction
Over the years, the world has experienced growth in technology. Even though there have been different areas of technological development, one of the outstanding is regarding social media. Since its introduction, most people embraced it due to its benefits. For instance, social media has made it easy and fast for people to make interactions. Moreover, social media has made the world a global village where even those people who are far converse easily without having to move for long distances. Some of these benefits have made many institutions embrace it. For instance, in digitization, the U.S. government has greatly employed it to perform various functions. For instance, social media have helped transform the U.S. government's foreign and immigration policies.
Impact of Social Media on Foreign Policies
The use of the government integrating social media in foreign policies has seen this sector change drastically. For instance, the huge use of social media has transformed individuals' social lives and political interactions. For example, there has been a rise in the number of diplomats using social media platforms to signal that they are ready to engage with their foreign counterparts (Zhang, 2013: 1314). For instance, just a single tweet from a diplomat can show the country's stand regarding a certain issue. Whenever the other diplomats are ready to engage, they can also signal through social media (Duncombe, 2019: 412). This process helps to make an effective platform where people can have dialogue, diplomacy, and cooperation through facilitating new ways to communicate state identity and the different states' interactions.
Moreover, social media use has helped shift from traditional face-to-face diplomacy. For instance, different countries are currently using social media to open dialogue which helps to boost trust among different states. For instance, international relations theorists highlight that social media usually frame and reflect the state identity (Duncombe, 2017: 555). For example, many states use social media to create an image to show how they want to be recognized internationally. Moreover, the states use it to shift the representational patterns when having high-level negotiations, which helps them realize different political possibilities they could employ for change.
The perfect example of the importance of social media is how Twitter helped realize the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, popularly known as the Iran nuclear deal. Since 1980 the diplomatic ties between the United States and America have been suffering rapprochement, which interfered with the chances of high-level diplomatic interactions. Previous Presidential administrations to control Iran's nuclear program that aimed to have formulaic threats regarding economic sanctions and military invasion had less impact (Hufbauer, 2020: 8). However, after many years of struggle, the U.S. government succeeded in having a successful Iran nuclear deal in 2015(Alcaro, 2021: 55). Even though there were many directions that people have used, one of that have a huge impact on this success was Twitter. The main reason was the application of Twitter helped to attain positive representation of both the United States and Iran, which helped in shifting from the previous recognition dynamics (Miskimmon and O'Loughlin, 2020: 15). These representatives were, therefore, able to reconstruct the narratives regarding the state identity according to the positive recognition themes which helped to shift the recognition terms to have a mutual benefit.
In most instances, the state is using social media as a medium to attain state recognition. For instance, it permits states to represent themselves in a persuasive and performative manner which could help to cultivate the existing state identity in a way where it will be looking for recognition and affirmation of other countries. Normally the way the state will represent itself and recognize other states will be in a fluid and inter-subjective process conducted by social media. This process can rule out or legitimize all different foreign possibilities. Moreover, social media transcendences and exceeds traditional face-to-face diplomacy's time and space limitations (Lemke and Habegger, 2018: 2). This feature gives it new opportunities for unprecedented cooperation, dialogue, and mutual recognition according to the dynamic state identity representations.
Social media has also helped improve the general public's engagement regarding foreign policy matters. Previously when the diplomats had a traditional diplomacy process, most members of the general public lacked access to this information. Moreover, those who knew the decisions lacked the platforms where these individuals could air their views (Dumčiuvienė, 2016: 98). use of social media has helped individuals be more informed about the government's public policies is employing. These individuals also have the opportunity to express their views and dissatisfaction, which they could be having. The individuals will therefore feel satisfied after airing their views. Moreover, there are other instances where the diplomats can sample these views and know areas where they could improve. This process would help to improve the relationship between different states.
Similar to how social media can have a huge positive impact on foreign relationships, it can also have negative impacts. For instance, there have been sometimes when it has been used to create damaging state narratives. Previously, there was an instance where Former President Donald Trump’s Twitter diplomacy had hostile and heated arguments with foreign dignitaries. For example, there has been an instance where Vicente Fox, a former Mexican President, had a heated argument regarding the border wall construction (Kellner, 2018: 90). Fox highlighted that Donald Trump did not seem to be a human being but a "machine" which did not have any compassion. Fox opposed this motive because he highlighted that the countries did not need walls since the walls would separate them but rather needed bridges of understanding and sharing. He also criticized the move highlighting that America was selling the idea to other individuals that it was greater than the other nations. Moreover, he disputed the government's trading declarations regarding nuclear warfare with Kim Jong, a North Korean leader. In this instance, Trump used s...