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India's Mediated Public Diplomacy on Social Media: Building Agendas and Reputation in South Asia”

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India's Mediated Public Diplomacy on Social Media: Building Agendas and Reputation in South Asia” India’s Mediated Public Diplomacy on Social Media: Building Agendas and National Reputation in South Asia A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Nisha Garud-Patkar December 2017 © 2017 Nisha Garud-Patkar. All Rights Reserved. This dissertation titled India’s Mediated Public Diplomacy on Social Media: Building Agendas and National Reputation in South Asia by NISHA GARUD-PATKAR has been approved for the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and the Scripps College of Communication by Yusuf Kalyango, Jr. Professor of Journalism Scott Titsworth Dean, Scripps College of Communication ii Abstract GARUD-PATKAR, NISHA, Ph.D., December 2017, Journalism India’s Mediated Public Diplomacy on Social Media: Building Agendas and National Reputation in South Asia Director of Dissertation: Yusuf Kalyango, Jr. One tool in India’s mediated public diplomacy is the increasing use of social media platforms to build agendas and national reputation among foreign audiences. In 2017, the Indian government ranks seventh in the world in its use of social media for diplomacy and has more than 1.2 million users following its diplomatic accounts on several social media platforms. Despite this high ranking and a sizable following on social media, little research has been done to understand India’s mediated public diplomacy through Twitter and Facebook. To address this literature gap, this study investigates India’s mediated public diplomacy on social media in South Asia based on the theoretical models of agenda building and reputation building. First, the agenda-building model was examined through both a quantitative analysis of content published on 15 Indian government social media accounts and a survey of the social media users who follow these accounts. A total of 6,000 tweets and status updates published on the 15 accounts of the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian Diplomacy, and embassies in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were analyzed. Second, a reputation-building model surveyed national reputation factors for India such as engagement, online social relations, and information sources among social media users. iii Results show that there is an agenda-building linkage between the Indian government agendas and the agendas of South Asian social media users. Politics, culture, economy/finance, and infrastructure were the top-ranked agendas of the Indian government on social media. For social media users, the top-ranked agendas were education, health and medicine, environment, economy/finance, and infrastructure. Results also show that social media engagement and information sources such as traditional media from the social media users’ home country and social networking sites predict national reputation. However, factors such as the strength of online social relations and Indian information sources (both traditional and online) do not predict national reputation for India. This study makes several contributions to the emerging field of mediated public diplomacy on social media. First, it provides an exploratory account of how India mediates public diplomacy on Facebook and Twitter in South Asia. Second, the agenda building study contributes empirical evidence from measures of perceptions of social media users in South Asia. Third, it takes a quantitative approach that supports the theoretical propositions of scholars that social media is an important mediated public diplomacy tool, particularly for national reputation building in India and to some extent, South Asia. iv Dedication For my parents, who taught me destiny is what you make of it. Thank you for raising me to be a strong, independent woman. For Prasad, whose understanding and patience is immeasurable. Thank you for being my best friend. For peace and prosperity in South Asia. v Acknowledgments First and foremost, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Yusuf Kalyango, Jr., for his support all throughout my graduate life. From the day that I first met him as a master’s student until today, Dr. K’s work as an internationalist and an academic has inspired me. I am honored to have such an extremely diligent and intellectual scholar as a role model. I owe my academic success to his mentorship. There aren’t enough words to thank Dr. Jatin Srivastava for his encouragement and guidance. There is not a single problem for which Dr. Srivastava has no solution. For his dedication towards both my academic and personal success, I am highly indebted. I am also thankful to my committee members, Dr. Steve Howard and Dr. Andrew Ross, for their continuous support and valuable feedback on this study. I am fortunate to be part of two families that give the utmost importance to education and independence. My two pillars, my mother Jayashree and my father Vilas, have given me the right kind of freedom and upbringing. Their belief in my ability to take the right decisions and supporting me through them is appreciated. I am extremely thankful to my mother-in-law, Smita Patkar, who has always been supportive of my studies and continues to show confidence in me. Also, thanks to my two beautiful sisters- in-law, Dr. Varsha Pednekar and Shilpa Padte, for their encouragement and faith in my abilities. Varsha didi’s constant appreciation of my work keeps me going while Shilpa didi’s immense love, praise, and food fills in for mom’s absence. I wish I had half the energy that they both have. My cute nieces and nephews have kept my spirits high, especially Yanu, who has always told me: Mami, you can do it. vi This endeavor would not have been completed without Prasad’s sacrifices: the long, tiring flights he took every fortnight to be in Athens and the numerous festivals, family events, and weekends he spent without me. He has spent more time in the library only so that I could work. His jokes may never make me laugh, but they always cheer me up. I am grateful for his patience and unending support. I also wish to thank the Scripps family and my soon-to-be San Jose State family. It has been a such pleasure and honor to be in the company of the student-friendly faculty and alumni at Scripps. My sincere thanks to Enakshi Roy for her advice on the job talks and for the office conversations that brought some respite while writing this dissertation. I am thankful to the dean and director at San Jose State University (SJSU) for their patience as I finish with my doctoral journey and for being accommodating and welcoming. I look forward to starting a new chapter of my academic journey at SJSU. Many thanks also to people who helped me during the data collection process, especially to the technical ingenuity of Pratik Mehta. To all those in South Asia who sincerely answered the survey without knowing who was on the other side asking for their opinions—thank you for your trust that helped in designing a strong study. vii Table of Contents Page Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Dedication ........................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. vi List of Tables .................................................................................................................... xii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. xiii Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Rationale for the Study ................................................................................................. 5 Research Objectives ...................................................................................................... 7 Organization of the Study ............................................................................................. 8 Chapter 2: Examining the Origins of Public Diplomacy .................................................. 11 Medieval Period .......................................................................................................... 11 World War I Era .......................................................................................................... 13 World War II and Cold War ....................................................................................... 16 The 21st Century Diplomacy ...................................................................................... 17 Public Diplomacy in the Asia ..................................................................................... 19 Perspectives on Public Diplomacy .............................................................................. 20 Traditional diplomacy versus public diplomacy. .................................................. 20 Public relations. ..................................................................................................... 22 Soft power. ............................................................................................................ 22 Power relations. ..................................................................................................... 23 Social media diplomacy. ......................................................................................
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