Rebuilding public trust in the Taiwan military: a systems approach

Abstract

This thesis focuses on how the Taiwan military can improve public perception by changing its posting strategies on the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense Facebook page. By enhancing public trust through social media, the military would be better positioned to increase recruitment, funding, and morale. First, the research analyzes the application of Facebook and use of the Like button as an indicator of public trust levels. Then it employs content analysis methods, to evaluate which posting formats and writing approaches would lead to various trust levels. The findings reveal that the Taiwan military can improve public perception through its use of Facebook by publicizing cultural events such as the Lunar New Year, creating surprising content for followers, managing the trust-building process, and using Facebook's text and picture format with a proactive content strategy.