Ethiopia ranks 3rd in Africa in digital diplomacy

Addis Ababa, April 5, 2016 (FBC) – The annual digital diplomacy review (DDR 16) has ranked Ethiopia 3rd in Africa and 76th worldwide in digital diplomacy.
Ethiopia is only preceded by Egypt and South Africa in the Continent in its digital diplomacy engagement.

The ranking was given based on the digital assets used by Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFAs) from the beginning of 2015 to mid-March 2016.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia (MoFA) has social media accounts on facebook, twitter, youtube, pinterest, a blog and a website.

Digital diplomacy is the use of internet and new information communication technologies to help achieve diplomatic objectives.

Ranking Method

DDR 16 methodology is based on a new approach diplomacy. It identifies 5 major digital diplomacy needs, depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. They also represent the stages of progress from a beginner to advanced degree of digital diplomacy practice at corporate level: Presence, Customization, Up-to-dateness, Engagement, and Diplomacy.

Each level is characterized by designated variables/indicators among 166 criteria selected to measure performance of digital diplomacy assets. In turn these 5 major levels of digital diplomacy performance is double-checked with additional qualitative signifiers such as creativity and authenticity, transparency, content-management, security, openness, influence, type of audience, professionalism, disruptive/innovative campaigns.

First, DDR16 team collected digital assets used by Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFAs) from the beginning of 2015 to mid-March 2016. Then, all these digital assets were analyzed in depth in the light of data withdrawn from API-based resources. In the absence of API-based resources, data was compiled manually.

The score of each MFA was measured on a 0 to100 scale and its equivalent of a letter from AAA ++ to E – – is also accordingly assigned.