A Comparative Analysis of Digital Diplomacy by the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration and Its Influence On Effective U.S. Foreign Policy

The world is continually hearing about the unrelenting expansion of the use of digital technologies like social media around the globe. The relevance of social media channels to diplomacy goes far beyond usage numbers. The universal use of social media has important strategic implications for the diplomatic community because it has fundamentally changed the ways that governments engage with their citizens and position themselves on the global stage. Social media has fundamentally impacted the art of diplomacy. Social media decides the size and scope of an issue and this dynamic alone has changed perceptions around the world in terms of responsibility, accountability, leadership and justice. This research argues that it is important to analyse Washington’s past and present top-level policy makers who are using these powerful new tools to connect cultures, increase awareness and advocate policy positions. The study used both primary and secondary data. The general objective of this study is to provide a comparative analysis of digital diplomacy by the Obama and Trump Administration and its influence on effective US foreign policy, with a focus on the study area of Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and US embassy in Kenya. The researcher adopted a non-probability sampling method to select samples for this study. From the study it is evident that both presidents have divergent styles on foreign policy as domestically, the Trump administration’s style is to be the anti-Obama, and a lot of people like it. The study on ‘elite perceptions’ showed that the US president is by far the most important actor in influencing foreign views of the US. His behaviour catalyzes tensions both in internal and global politics. Trump’s personal Twitter account is currently rooted deeply in US public diplomacy strategy, how the President interacts through it, how his practices have changed after his assumption of office and what networks are active throughout his period of activity. In summary, Donald Trump’s social media use is frivolous, overturning traditional wisdom and judgment in his presidential statements. He jumps from crisis to crisis, using a colloquial style in delivering messages instead of providing solid content. He is breaking the rules and this study argues whether it is good for the political communication community instead of creating a concrete foreign diplomacy. The study recommends credibility, accuracy, validity and authenticity of the user-generated content in the social networking sites are very important to protect the integrity of the any foreign policy of a country or its leader and his administration.