Florida State University expert explains how World Cup fans are reshaping America’s image

Viral social media content from international visitors attending the FIFA World Cup is showing how everyday interactions across the United States can become a form of citizen diplomacy that may help reshape global perceptions of the country.

Whether it’s fans from Japan marveling at Texas barbecue, Scotland’s Tartan Army spreading goodwill in Boston or German content creators becoming enamored with Buc-ee’s, international visitors have consistently shared positive reactions to American hospitality, food and local culture.

The social media content offers a contrast to some perceptions of the United States. According to the Pew Research Center, some of Europe’s hottest soccer hubs stated that they believed the U.S. was plagued by “very strong partisan conflicts.”

Florida State University Professor of Sociology Deana Rohlinger studies mass media, social movements, digital participation and democratic processes. She said the FIFA World Cup offers one of the largest examples of citizen diplomacy, when ordinary people act as informal ambassadors and generate goodwill that governments cannot easily create.

“Social scientists have known for decades that when people from different groups interact under positive conditions, stereotypes often break down. The World Cup is one of the largest examples imaginable,” Rohlinger said.

While diplomacy is often viewed as a top-down process led by governments and political leaders, citizen diplomacy works from the bottom up. International visitors’ own perceptions change by experiencing what U.S. culture is about.

“Part of why this resonates is that it pushes back against a story we’ve been telling ourselves for years,” Rohlinger added. “So much of what we encounter emphasizes polarization, conflict and dysfunction that those images start to define how we see ourselves. Then outsiders, people with no reason to flatter us, arrive expecting one thing and encounter another. Their reactions interrupt the narrative. They provide a more generous, and probably more accurate, reflection of who we are.”

Media interested in learning more about citizen diplomacy and how the FIFA World Cup is influencing perceptions of the U.S. may contact Professor of Sociology Deana Rohlinger via email at drohling@fsu.edu.

How does citizen diplomacy become so effective in the case of FIFA World Cup visitors experiencing the United States?

 Part of what makes these moments powerful is that visitors arrive with expectations shaped by headlines and social media. Then they encounter something more mundane and more human: strangers striking up conversations, neighbors helping with directions, someone insisting they have to experience Buc-ee’s, or introducing them to the marvel of a Big Gulp. These small interactions sound trivial, but they leave impressions. And because so many of us are watching these encounters unfold online, the goodwill extends far beyond the people who were actually there. Visitors show up expecting a divided, unwelcoming country, discover something different, and then tell the world. That’s how the script gets flipped. 

How can this type of positive social media content boost morale to U.S. citizens and their own thoughts/opinions of their country?

There’s something powerful about hearing these positive reactions from strangers. Praise from people who don’t owe us anything feels more credible than self-congratulation. The effect is probably temporary, but moments like this remind people that the angry, divided portrait we carry around is only part of the picture. Everyday interactions, ordinary kindness and even shared excitement over things as mundane as Buc-ee’s or a Big Gulp point to another side of American life that often gets lost in the headlines.