Exploring the extent of digitalisation and digital diplomacy in Pakistan embassies

ABSTRACT

This study examines Pakistan embassies' social media adoption, use, and level of public engagement in relation to ‘networked public diplomacy'. Web surveying showed that majority of the embassies have accounts on social networking sites, but some are inactive. The manual content and thematic analysis of tweets (n = 490) collected during December 2019 from the Twitter accounts of five Pakistan embassies revealed considerable differences in the number, regularity and frequency of the posts; but showed similarity in the message content disseminated by the embassies. The results also demonstrated that the embassies generally follow state-centric informative and one-way communication strategies, with the exception of one embassy that somewhat engaged its audience through Twiplomacy. A key finding showed that embassies in places with fewer diaspora are more effective in producing messages that encourage dialogic communication compared with embassies with a larger expat population. In addition, results from user profile analysis of the accounts’ followers suggested a limited digital presence of Pakistani missions among the foreign netizens. In general, the findings showed that Pakistan embassies are present on social media sites, but lack the inclination to communicate dialogically in real time and to show reasonable presence among digital audiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Pakistan embassies
• digital diplomacy
• Twiplomacy
• internet audience
• social networking sites

Acknowledgement

The authors would deeply thank officials from The Embassy of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Beijing China, who took the time for sharing information. In particular, gratitude is due to Mrs. Sughra Habib, First Secretary, Pakistan Embassy Beijing, for arranging an interview with the Press Attaché in the Pakistan Embassy, Beijing, China.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Although there is no official record of government bodies with such accounts, Twitter account @GOVsites keeps an unofficial record.

2 Pakistani embassies in other Commonwealth member states are known as High Commissions.

3 Information acquired from an interview conducted with the Press Attaché in Beijing, in November 2019.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Habibullah

Dr Habibullah is PhD from School of Journalism and Communication Tsinghua University, Beijing China. He also holds master's degrees in International Relations and MBA (Management). His research interests pertain to international communication, global communication, soft power and public diplomacy, digital diplomacy, Orientalism, and Orientalist communication. Dr. Habibullah is currently associated with the Education Department of Balochistan, Pakistan. His contacts are as Emails: [email protected]/[email protected] Mob: [phone].

Li Xiguang

Li Xiguang is Professor and supervisor of PhD students in global communication, also the Director of International Communication Centre Tsinghua University and the Director of Pakistan Culture and Communication Centre Tsinghua University, Beijing China. He is the editor of Global Media Journal (Chinese). Besides, he is the member of Chinese Foreign Ministry Advisory Committee on Public Diplomacy and chief expert of the National Social Science Foundation for the Culture of Chinese Traditional Medicine. He also serves as Director of UNESCO-UNAOC UNITWIN Global Chair on Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue, and as a consultant with CICTIC Reform and Development Research Foundation. His contacts are as Email: [email protected] Mob: [phone]