In international relations, it's the message, not the medium
Research surveys show warnings issued by world leaders are taken equally seriously whether issued on social media or through formal statements.
“What we find, which is really surprising, across both expert audiences and public audiences, is that tweets are not necessarily seen as this form of cheap talk,” says Erik Lin-Greenberg, an MIT faculty member and co-author of a new paper detailing the results. “They’re viewed as the same type of signal as that being offered through more formal and traditional communications.”
Photos by Gretchen Ertl and Wenyan Deng