... covered how Ukrainian soldiers crucified a child in front of its mother's eyes. Later, this story was proved to be fake, and there was neither a killed child, nor shocked mother. Still, the story went viral. It had reached a much broader audience on social mediathan it did on television.
The authors refer to that story as "an example of Kremlin-backed disinformation campaign." The authors of the report continued to state that "
in subsequent years, similar tactics would again be unleashed ...
Social media is sustaining the unparalleled diminishment of lived experiences of others versus ‘I’
The rise of digital societies around the globe is the natural by-product of humankind's insistence on efficiency, which started with the industrial ...
... #OrangeManBad, another reference to the weak arguments put forward by his opponents and critics.
From the Language of Diplomacy to the Language of Memes
Since practically anyone can express their political views through provocative posts, trolling and memes on social media, this behaviour turned into a general trend, one which
politicians were quick to embrace, filling their official accounts with similar content
. While in Russia, politicians are extremely cautious about this form of communication, it has ...
... will come a time when grandparents will tell their grandchildren stories of what politics were like without memes. Even today, memes have become so commonplace that it seems they have always been present in our life. They are everywhere: starting with social media to newspapers headlines, from business to politics. Though the meme was initially a product of the entertainment industry, today this phenomenon is widely used in political communication. Since there are several standard definitions of “meme”,...
RIAC Policy Brief #12 / 2017
On November 7, 2016, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States after a bitterly-fought campaign against Hillary Clinton. The election was very closely-run, with Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote, but losing the presidency based on the U.S. electoral college structure. However, months after Donald Trump was declared President of the United States, questions remain about the legitimacy of the U.S. elections. The central issues are the emergence and...
The role of social media in shaping the political and social dialog in a country is not a new topic for research
The role of social media in shaping the political and social dialog in a country is not a new topic for research. 2016 and the first weeks of 2017 showed,...
... that while official MFA accounts on Facebook, VK and Twitter, run from Moscow, posted evacuation details, Russian missions in Egypt (the embassy, its consular section and the consulate-general) have not (as of Sunday night) informed followers of their social media accounts even about the very flight suspension. The Russian Foreign Ministry already has experience in using new ICT for notifying Russian citizens abroad. Since 2013, there is a Situational Crisis Center within the MFA, which is responsible,...
... and corporate entities are not the only people responsible for shaping the future – and our discourse and policies should reflect this new reality.
Climate change is this generation’s “Mutually Assured Destruction” (MAD) and social media is connecting people to this new reality and global paradigm. Social media may rely on expert academics, analysts, political leaders and others but its credibility and effectiveness as a tool for change and climate action rely on circumventing ...
... started using the hashtag to criticize U.S. policies. Jen Psaki, the State Department spokesperson, expressed hope that Russia “will live by the promise of hashtag”, sparking an outburst of sarcastic comments about the State Department in American social media. The MFA picked on that tweet asking since when did the United States enjoy the monopoly on all the good things. In May, the MFA was also among the first to support the #SaveOurGuys hashtag – a campaign demanding the release of LifeNews ...
... Deen Freelon, Assistant Professor of Public Communication in the School of Communication at American University
Interview
The Arab Spring movements towards democratization in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya were driven by the Arab youth that was actively using social media for communications and providing their vision of the unfolding events. How significant was the role of social media? And would the gains of the Arab Spring be even possible without social media? Deen Freelon dispels some common misconceptions ...