New media in the context of intercultural communication as a tool for public diplomacy

It has been always possible to refer to terms of culture and intercultural communication which are related to each other, in every time and place where human beings exist. The communication process which starts with the gathering of people from varied societies may cause some problems. As a matter of fact, this situation is also seen in the relations between states and with the increasing importance of public opinion, the diplomacy used in solving the problems between the states started to increase the value of intercultural communications. In this context, one of the prominent methods in solving the problems between states is public diplomacy, which is structured with the power in intercultural communication. Public diplomacy strategies which are carried out to influnce public opinion have become important in international relations especially with the process of globalisation and technological developments. In this new system of public diplomacy, governments and other actors can personally contact with other publics through new media tools. Moreover, they can influence them in different ways. In the case of American Public diplomacy, US government uses a variety of different kinds of new media tools. This study aimed to examine how technological developments in the field of public diplomacy and new media reflect on the US public diplomacy. Additionaly, this study also mentions how the U.S. government under the Barack Obama administration used public diplomacy, especially aftermath of the September 11 attack. In this context, this study also focuses on the issue of how public diplomacy emerged in the USA and how and what extent it was used during the Second World War and the Cold War. Consequently, it was pointed out that intercultural communication has a key role in todays world and more importantly how the US public diplomacy take advantage of intercultural communication through using new media.