With the advent of the internet and the rise of social media, military institutions have had to adapt their communication style to disseminate information as quickly as possible, counter misinformation, and maintain a dialogue with the global public. This study analyzes and compares the strategic communication practices of the armed forces of the United States and Romania on Facebook, aiming to identify differences in content strategies, thematic focus, posting patterns, and audience engagement levels. Thus, the study contributes to an under-explored body of literature on military communication in Eastern Europe within the digital public sphere. The study is based on a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative content analysis applied to a corpus of 2.308 posts on Facebook. The posts were published on the main communication pages of the U.S. and Romanian armed forces (U.S.Army and Ministerul Apararii Nationale, Romania - www.mapn.ro) between January 1 and December 31, 2023. For the analysis, a custom codebook was developed that included variables such as content type, thematic categories, message tone, and interactivity elements. Although the Romanian Army published more posts and had a stronger presence on Facebook, the U.S. Army achieved significantly higher engagement thanks to its diverse, personal and interactive content. The Romanian Army’s formal and ceremonial style limited interaction with the public, suggesting that more varied content that resonates with the public could strengthen trust in the institution.

Authors:
Cezara Mindrescu, University of Bucharest, Romania

About the Presenter(s)
Cezara Mihaela Mîndrescu is a PhD candidate in Communication Sciences at the University of Bucharest. Her interests include strategic communication, military communication, organizational communication, and institutional identity in digital environme

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