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 ...