Greek Embassies on Twitter and the Quest for a Strategy

Abstract

This chapter explores existing practices regarding the Hellenic Embassies’ use of Twitter, paving the way toward their optimization. Twitter diplomacy offers significant advantages yet use in the Greek public sector appears to be sparse and anemic, depriving opportunities that would benefit the country. The authors studied a sample of five Twitter accounts in five different countries for 7 days, conducting quantitative and thematic analysis. Thus, they collected evidence on the frequency and periodical nature of the tweets; on the interactivity between the users and the account owners; on the existence of content strategy and content pillars; on the selected language; and, finally, on the extroversion of these accounts and the overall assessment of the communication strategy followed. The Greek Communication Officers appear to be using Twitter hesitantly, responding to occurrences rather than building opportunities, divided between the imperative for a tightly controlled central communication policy and the need for agile, real time, localized, interactive approaches with specific target groups in each country. Significant variations emerge from one Twitter account to another, thus indicating a lack of diffusion in terms of know-how and a lack of adequate alignment between the Greek central administration and the Communication Officers in Greek embassies.