Paper short abstract:

Diaspora engagement, is crucial for various national governments. In an era of social media proliferation, this study investigates how African embassies employ Facebook as a means of dialogic engagement and the formation of virtual, rather than imagined, diasporic communities.

Paper long abstract:

Diasporic communities may have previously been conceptualized as imagined communities in the sense that while members shared a culture, language and national identity such communities were geographically dispersed and too large to allow ties between all members. While embassies have traditionally attempted to maintain links between diasporic communities and their countries of origin, the size and geographic dispersal of diasporas, alongside limited embassy resources, may have impeded such attempts. However, the migration of both embassies and diasporas to Facebook may have a substantial impact on the practice of diaspora diplomacy. Embassies may utilize Facebook to strengthen their ties with diasporic communities, maintain links between diasporas and their country of origin and create stronger bonds between members of a diasporic community. Despite the potential use of Facebook in diaspora diplomacy, few studies have investigated this area of digital diplomacy. The study aims to address this fundamental gap by analyzing the Facebook activity of nine African embassies (three Kenyan embassies, three Ethiopian embassies and three Ugandan embassies). Thematic analysis will be employed in order to identify the content African embassies share with their diasporic communities as a means of dispensing embassy communication goals. In addition, content analysis will be employed to analyze comments posted by embassy Facebook followers as a means of identifying diasporic communities' needs. Finally, levels of online engagement between embassies and their Facebook followers will be analyzed in order to identify the use of SNS for dialogic engagement and the formation of virtual, rather than imagined, diasporic communities.