DIGITAL DIPLOMACY AND POWER IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION: A QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL MEDIA DISCOURSES IN THE CASES OF THE U.S., CHINA AND TÜRKİYE (2022–2025)

This study examines how digital diplomacy practices contribute to the transformation of international power by analyzing the use of social media platforms as instruments of foreign policy. Focusing on the United States, China and Türkiye, the research investigates how states construct strategic narratives and project international influence through digital communication. The study is based on a dataset of 600 social media posts selected from an initial corpus of 1,800 posts shared between 2022 and 2025 on X (Twitter), Instagram and YouTube accounts of official diplomatic actors. A comparative qualitative research design combining thematic analysis and discourse analysis was employed. Using NVivo software, five main thematic categories were identified: democratic values and normative leadership, development and mutual benefit discourse, humanitarian diplomacy, national image construction and crisis communication. The findings reveal significant differences in digital diplomacy strategies across the three countries. The United States predominantly employs a normative discourse centered on democracy, alliances and global leadership. China emphasizes development cooperation, economic partnerships and `win–win`narratives, reflecting a development-oriented power projection model. Türkiye, in contrast, highlights humanitarian diplomacy, mediation efforts and crisis response, constructing an image of a proactive regional and global humanitarian actor. These differences demonstrate that digital diplomacy functions as a strategic tool for states to reproduce distinct power identities in the international system. The study contributes to the literature by providing an empirically grounded comparative framework that links digital diplomacy practices with international power transformation. It proposes that platform diplomacy should be understood as the intersection of strategic narratives, algorithmic visibility and state communication practices. By combining discourse analysis with cross-national comparison, the research offers a novel perspective on how emerging and established powers utilize digital platforms to reshape global influence.