Social Media Networking and the Future of Public Diplomacy in Black Africa

In spite of its global nature, digital diplomacy has mostly attracted the attention of Euro-centric scholars. Most studies on the issue have dominantly focused on the activities of western MFAs giving little or no attention to those of their African counterparts. This chapter attempts to fill this apparent gap in knowledge. Based on empirical understandings and secondary data, it critically examines how, and to what extent the digital technology paradigm has affected—or may affect—the conduct of public diplomacy particularly in Black African countries. The chapter is divided into four main sections. The first section provides a theoretical framework composed of the actors network theory and the digital divide theory. The second section provides a definition of e-diplomacy and traces its history. The third section examines African countries' progressive “appropriation” of this culture, and the fourth section highlights the prospects of e-diplomacy in Africa as well as major challenges faced by African countries in their deployment of digital diplomacy.