Listening in a Masspersonal Context: Examining Professional Diplomats’ Interaction Involvement on Twitter

Abstract

Listening has become a key concept in practicing public diplomacy on social media. This study explores professional diplomats’ listening on Twitter, operationalizing their listening behavior as interaction involvement (II). II is related to knowing when and how to use language in social situations, and it covers three crucial aspects of listening: attentiveness, perceptiveness, and responsiveness. The present study examines the relationship between diplomats’ interaction involvement and their perceptions of how their goals are being met by their use of Twitter. Survey data were collected from participants (N = 108) who were diplomats from five Northern European countries stationed at each country’s foreign embassies. As hypothesized, the data revealed a positive association between II and perceived goal attainment. Moreover, active tweeting and the following of other users do not alone determine successful impact, but listening skills related to relational awareness and responsiveness are at least as important, if not more important.