Diverse Views
Public Diplomacy through Social Media: Analysis of Facebook Pages of Internet Users in Pakistan and America
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Amna Waheeda
This study analyzes Facebook pages of Internet users in Pakistan and America and their role in decreasing tensions between countries. Content analysis and in-depth interview techniques have been used simultaneously. Two Facebook pages related to Pak-America relations within the time frame of 1st January 2010 to 31st December 2011 were chosen for the study. These pages were operated by Internet users of both countries. The categories were analysed included terrorism, culture, education, and women's rights. Those categories were extensively defined and these guidelines were strictly adhered to while conducting the analysis. Each item on the page including picture, walls, shares, and posts were examined for the study. Besides content analysis, the researcher had in-depth interviews with twenty experts of international relations, media, women's rights, and teachers of mass communication.
New Light on Dark Money : The Power of Younger Generations’ Symbiotic Bonding for the Resolution of Crucial Human Challenges
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Dr. Carol L. Simpson
Given the increasing prevalence of dark money interference in democratic processes, digital media, despite drawbacks, notably aiding mobilization of extremist movements, is still a viable alternative for socio-political change. Social media provides grassroots activists a place to see and hear current events real-time, and a platform on which to speak against social injustice. While acknowledging youth’s vulnerability to digital age filter bubble effects, the dissemination of false or misleading information, and potential unconscious drawing toward exclusionist behavior and human rights violations, this paper draws on case studies where youth demonstrate an aptitude for sharing knowledge of human rights injustices with friends, a powerful force for challenging prejudice and discrimination. Beneath the waves of e-petitions, hashtags, likes and dislikes on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, these ubiquitous go-to’s are still spaces where people come together, exchange ideas, learn from one another, organize, and take action. The relationship between this and real political-ideological change is speculative, but this paper’s focus points to evidence that in a post-truth, alternative-fact world driven by social media and divisive politics, amidst constant battles between the corrosive effects of dark money anonymous political donor interests and journalistic watchdogs faced with death by myriad cutbacks, the solidarity of younger generations’ symbiotic bonding based on an urgent sense of common mission for the resolution of crucial human challenges, is becoming the driving force for shifting the global current of division and conflict, creating a new reality of a global society in which all may live in peace and dignity.
