Social media diplomacy for social visibility and social approval: strategic communication of the Taliban de facto government on Twitter

Social media offers governments a cost-effective platform to advance their diplomatic and foreign policy objectives by engaging with the public and demonstrating transparency. However, the potential of social media diplomacy for quasi-state entities such as the Taliban de facto government, which lacks international recognition, remained unexplored. This study aims to examine how the Taliban used public diplomacy messaging strategies and social media communication strategies on Twitter to increase their social visibility and gain social approval following their rise to power in Afghanistan. Specifically, Hierarchical Multiple Regression (HMR) analyses were conducted on 2,167 tweets shared by the Twitter account of the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) spokesperson. The results demonstrate that when employing public diplomacy strategies, the Taliban’s cultural diplomacy enhanced their social visibility and approval. However, their exchange diplomacy had a negative impact. Additionally, listening and international broadcasting had no significant effects. Regarding social media communication strategies, personalized communication, relevant information, and negative emotions were positively associated with their social visibility and social approval, while the effect of interactive communication was not supported.