Digital Diplomacy PM Lee hijacking White House Instagram account & vice versa highlights digital...

PM Lee hijacking White House Instagram account & vice versa highlights digital diplomacy

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These are some of the remarks expressed online as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong exchanged Instagram accounts with the White House (WH) for one day during his official visit to the United States (July 31 to Aug. 5, 2016).

In total, PM Lee published five IG posts, with one photo taken by him personally.

The WH shared three selfies, since they were photos of the WH, featuring its preparations for the state dinner.

Below are the eight posts, starting with PM’s posts on WH IG:

1st Post: PM in pink, holding an iPad.

2nd Post: PM’s visit to the Arlington National Cemetery, a military cemetery that honours the dead of the US’ conflicts.

3rd Post: PM greeting the Americans at the White House lawn.

4th Post: The most popular post among the five, featuring many happy faces except the baby’s.

5th Post: PM’s joint Press Conference with Obama.

On the other hand, the White House seems to like taking photos of itself.

But it must have felt strange that it is receiving fewer likes as a human being (WH’s 2.5 million followers vs PM Lee’s 239k followers).

Post 1: PM Lee’s IG account receives an instant boost with more than 12k likes.

Post 2: Food. Would have been fun if WH hastag #foodporn.

Post 3: Tables and cutlery

 

And so digital diplomacy for a day concluded with both accounts not following each other.

Source: LHL Instagram
Source: LHL Instagram
Source: White House IG
Source: White House IG (The 27 accounts were Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, US Departments and official photographers).

The end.

Top photo from Lee Hsien Loong Instagram

White House becomes PM Lee for a day.