President Zelensky’s Twitter communication strategy : A Content Analysis of digital diplomatic practices in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Sammanfattning: This master’s thesis offers a contribution to the ongoing debate on the utilization of social media by a world leader. It focuses on the role of president Zelensky as a political leader and his online communication in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This study investigates the role of a diplomatic practice in an online environment. An abductive content analysis is used for this research. President Zelensky’s Twitter communication is divided into the categories of Political communication, Anti-Russia discourse and Leadership communication. Tweets of president Zelensky between February 24, 2022, and February 24, 2023, have been used as an empirical material employing the Twitter advanced search. The theoretical perspectives of Diplomacy and Media Ecology are therefore utilized to create an understanding of Zelensky’s communication. The results of the study reveal that president Zelensky incorporates in his Twitter communication different diplomatic concepts that are affected by the current Media Ecology, while traditional diplomatic negotiations are only reported on through his Twitter account, other aspects of modern diplomatic practices, namely Track II Diplomacy and Public Diplomacy are highlighted throughout the tweets.