Twitter Diplomacy in the UAE and Saudi Arabia: Managing Media Crises

Abstract

The study explores Twitter diplomacy as a tool for managing media crises in the mainstream American and British media, with a particular focus on four significant political topics concerning the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. These include the Qatar diplomatic crisis, the Yemeni war, Iran, and the Muslim Brotherhood. The study evaluates the impact of Twitter diplomacy on media coverage of these issues. It covers three new research areas: Arabian Gulf Twitter diplomacy, the influence of Twitter diplomacy on American and British mainstream media, and examine the utilization of traditional and social media in both Western and Arabian Gulf contexts. The findings of the study suggest that Twitter diplomacy alone cannot address Western media crises. The study employed a qualitative descriptive methodology that utilized a combination of data collection techniques and qualitative analysis methods, including critical discourse analysis and elite interviews.