Browsing by Subject "quantitative"

Finland’s national obsession with seeing itself on the world stage is nothing new to anyone familiar with the Nordic country. Finns love seeing the country mentioned in international media so much so that it elicits two slightly tongue-in-cheek phrases in Finnish, torille tavataan and Suomi mainittu. For Finland’s size, it seems to be mentioned quite frequently on social media as well. But does Finland actually have disproportionate soft power and nation branding given its population? This thesis takes a look at traditional ways of studying soft power, public diplomacy and nation branding and how they have adapted to the digital era. It also explains some of the potential gaps in measuring a country’s nation brand, especially in regards to YouTube. Using the sum of YouTube views from the first five pages of search results as a vector for quantitative research, this thesis also offers an example of a small study of nine other geographically diverse case countries all with similarly sized populations to Finland — New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, the Central African Republic, Slovakia, El Salvador, Paraguay, Ireland, and Singapore. YouTube videos can be further grouped into various of the sight’s own categories, showing which countries out perform others, offering more specific insight into nation branding successes and failures. Comparing these 10 countries, all in the same population weight class, can help determine whether Finland’s online presence is actually outsized or that’s a myth supported by confirmation bias.