TWITTER AS A TOOL OF PARA-DIPLOMACY: AN EXPLORATORY COHORT STUDY BASED ON CATALONIA (2013-2017)

Abstract

This exploratory cohort study investigated the phenomenon of Digital Diplomacy by sub-state actors within the field of para-diplomacy, specifically the use of social media platforms by Catalonian Secretaries and Delegates of the Generalitat, and in particular how they use Twitter for the international promotion of its independence and/or its nation branding. A stratified significant sample of each year between 2013 and 2017 was collected using R software, and then analyzed using Nvivo. The methodology was based on Abela (2001), Krippendorff (2004), and Neuendorf (2002). The data shows that both Catalan public servants as well as its Delegates Abroad, use Twitter mostly for personal use. However, when analyzing only the contents about international or intermestic topics, it is observed that there is a tendency to publish topics related to independence rather than national brand.

Keywords

• Para-diplomacy
• digital para-diplomacy
• Twitter
• Catalonia
• web diplomacy of sub-regions
• diplomacy 2.0.