• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.265-296
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• 2020

Macao, a special administrative region of China, has been able to maintain the records of zero deaths and keep confirmed cases under 50 since the outbreak of COVID-19 for more than half a year as of July 2020, despite being the world's most densely populated city. The current paper utilizes the dialogic public relations theory to analyze the situation using both literature review on how the various government actions and strategies during the pandemic were corresponding to the theory, and a quantitative random digital dialing (RDD) telephone survey, with a sample of 502 Macao residents aged 18 or above, to study the public reactions towards the government pandemic prevention actions. Survey results show a high level of public satisfaction towards epidemic prevention performance, as well as some forms of collaborative information redissemination behavior in social media platforms. Literature review and analysis from dialogic theory found that spirit of mutual equality, collaboration with local community, immediacy of presence in crisis time, engagements with stakeholders through maximum media channels and networks, supportiveness to public with both useful information and practical social support like subsidy program, as well as commitment to transparent and genuine communication, are all the dialogic communications strategies that describe what the Macao government has done in the crisis of COVID-19. The dialogic strategies that could be learned from the Macao government may be used as a reference for similar urbanized and densely populated cities in other territories.

• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.49-69
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• 2019

Over the last couple of years, digital diplomacy has become a fascinating area of research among Mass Communication, Peace and Conflict Studies, and International Affairs scholars. Social media and new technology open up new avenues for governments, individuals, and organizations to engage with foreign audiences. However, developing countries' governments are still lacking in the realization of the potential of social media. This study aims to analyze the usage of social media (Facebook & Twitter) by the two biggest countries in South Asia (Pakistan and India). I selected 10 government officials' social media accounts including prime ministers', national press offices', military public relations offices', public diplomacy divisions', and ministries of foreign offices' profiles. The study relies on quantitative content analysis and a comparative research approach. The total number of analyzed Twitter tweets (n=1,015) and Facebook posts (n=1,005) include 10 accounts, five from each country. In light of Kent and Taylor's (1998) dialogic communication framework, the results indicate that no digital engagement and dialogue occurs between government departments and the public through social networking sites. Government departments do not engage with local or foreign audiences through digital media. When comparing both countries, results reveal that India has more institutionalized and organized digital diplomacy. In terms of departmental use of social media, the digital diplomacy division and foreign office of India is more active than other government departments in that nation. Meanwhile, Pakistan's military public relations office and press office is more active than its other government departments. In conclusion, both countries realize the potential of social media in digital diplomacy, but still lack engagement with foreign audiences.

• (The) Korean Journal of Advertising
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.57-90
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• 2018

This study is aimed at articulating the policy communication concept and developing the policy communication index between the Korean government and the public. Theoretically guided by dialogic communication theory, two step research was employed. In the first stage, the elements of policy communication were derived through literature review and in-depth interviews. In the second stage, online survey was conducted for the general public and reliability and validity were secured through confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation model analysis. The finalized policy communication index has two dimensions of mutuality and openness. The mutuality has six sub dimensions and the openness has three sub dimensions. The level of mutuality and openness of the policy communication index differed according to the policy type. In the cultural policy, which represents the traits of distribution policy, the degree of mutuality was strong, but the degree of openness was important in communication of education policy, which represents the traits of redistribution policy. This study is meaningful as an empirical study that verifies and suggests the influence of the policy communication index in the context of the policy communication and practical applicability to strategic public relations by understanding the dimensions of policy communication.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.41-58
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• 2020

This article attempts to explain social media use within the relationship between the public and government of Indonesia in the era of digital government, as well as to consider public opinion on this matter. This research is based on the application of social media logic and the theory of dialogic communication and action. A qualitative descriptive approach was used to observe the general behavior of social media use by 34 ministries in Indonesia, including interviews with the resource persons within the ministries and focus group discussions with members of the public and observers. The research shows that the relationship between the public and government is accommodative and in line with social media logic. The public sector implemented social media as its platform, which has been further adopted by all ministries. The public sector cannot avoid social media, as it has become part of basic connectivity, even though the use of social media by the government still tends to be in the form of presenting public information. There are advantages and disadvantages of the usage of social media by the government. The advantages include allowing the government to be more open via social media so that communication between the government as the ruling organization and its public can be more fluent. Social media provides space to the public sector in the practice of digital government. Some disadvantages arise as logical consequences that usage of social media cannot be separated from the implementation of digital government. The adaptive behavior of social media by the government can be found by following social media logic as part of digital government implementation. Social media logic causes the government to follow the rules of social media. In this context, the strength and power of the country seems to be regulated by social media. Therefore, more studies on how social media is managed in the context of its usage as digital government support is needed.