The Use of Social Networks in Promoting Rwanda's Image: A Case of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and East African Community

The Government of Rwanda is still facing the problem of negativist people who lives outside of the country using social media for smash up the image of the country. The government institution like Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and East African Community through its different Rwanda embassies as well as the Office of the Government Spokesperson (OGS) are putting much effort on showing the truth of Rwandas image after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The general objective of this study is to examine the use of social networks in promoting Rwandas image. This research adopted descriptive research design where descriptive statistics was applied to analyse data from questionnaires and other information of government official tweets. In line with this, the target population is 77 respondents. During this study, the researcher used the census method. This research shows that social networks have an overall correlation with Rwandas image of 0.743 which is strong and positive. This means that approximately 74.3 % variations from promotion of Rwandas image are explained by the social networks variables at 5 % level of significance. Therefore, this is a good indication of the true position of promoting Rwandas image explained by the usage of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. The rule of thumb said that, usually an R square of more than 50 % is considered as better, this study show that R square is (0.743) implying that socio networks have impact on promoting the Rwanda image. The overall significance of the regression estimation model. It indicates that the model is significant in explaining the relationship between socio networks and promotion of Rwandas image at 5 % level of significance. The analysis of Variance shows that f-calculated is greater that f critical that is 6.301greater than0.01. Social networking being an appropriate tool to promote countrys tourism destination, improve its diplomacy, fighting the genocide ideology and attracting investment opportunities. Considering this research the social networks should be a strongest path to promote the country image.