NEW YORK, May 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pope Francis is
the most followed world leader on Twitter with a combined total of
33,716,301 followers on his nine language accounts, ahead of U.S.
President Donald Trump with 30,133,036 followers and Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi with
30,058,659 followers, according to Burson-Marsteller's Twiplomacy
study, an annual global survey of how world leaders, governments
and international organizations use social media.
Twitter is the prime social network used by 276 heads of state
and government, and foreign ministers, in 178 countries,
representing 92 percent of all United Nations (UN) member states.
Facebook is the second-most used social platform by world leaders,
with 169 governments having established official pages. However,
world leaders have, on average, twice as many followers on their
Facebook pages as followers on Twitter. Data for Twiplomacy, which
updated the studies about Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and
Periscope, was captured in May 2017
using Burson-Marsteller's proprietary Burson tools, CrowdTangle.com
and Twitonomy.com.
President Trump is among a very small group of leaders who
manage their own Twitter accounts, and his tweets have generated
166 million interactions (likes and retweets) over the past 12
months – including the nearly four months since he was sworn in as
U.S. President – almost five times as many as Modi with 35 million
interactions.
Saudi Arabia's @KingSalman is
the most effective world leader on Twitter based on the average
number of retweets per original tweet. Of his ten tweets over the
past year, King Salman has received
an average of 147,456 retweets. President Trump's personal Twitter
account, @realDonaldTrump, is the second-most effective Twitter
account of any world leader, with an average of 13,094 retweets per
tweet. Pope Francis is in third place, with 10,337 average retweets
per tweet.
President Trump's unorthodox use of Twitter during the U.S.
presidential election campaign, and especially since taking office,
has left many governments around the world wondering if - and how -
they should engage with @realDonaldTrump on Twitter. Some leaders,
such as Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau of Canada and Pope
Francis, have sub-tweeted President Trump without directly
mentioning him by name. Only three world leaders have addressed
@realDonaldTrump directly on Twitter to rebuke his policies,
including Mexican President Enrique Pena
Nieto; Hilda Heine, the
President of the Marshall Islands;
and Ricardo Rosselló, the Governor of Puerto Rico.
The 2017 edition of Twiplomacy also examines the use of other
social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and
Periscope, and the Twiplomacy.com website includes rankings as well
as a social media atlas for each country studied. The study found,
for example, the number of governments using Periscope has doubled
over the past year, offering a cost-effective way to broadcast
press conferences live.
"Politics and diplomacy are playing out on social media in a way
we have never seen before," said Don
Baer, Worldwide Chair and CEO, Burson-Marsteller. "With the
U.S. president bypassing traditional government channels to
communicate directly to his supporters and detractors alike, we can
expect more people in positions of power to adopt this practice.
Our Twiplomacy study shows how fast-paced and dynamic our
communications landscape truly is."
"The study demonstrates the intense evolution in how world
leaders and governments are using social media to reach policy
or political objectives," added Ramiro
Prudencio, CEO of Burson-Marsteller
Europe, Middle East and
Africa. "This cross-platform
analysis provides key insights on social media use in a global,
fast-paced, connected, 24/7 information environment."
The 2017 Twiplomacy study analyzed 856 Twitter accounts of heads
of state and government, and foreign ministers, in 178 countries
with a combined total audience of 356 million followers. Foreign
ministries tend to use Twitter to establish mutual relations. The
European Union (EU) External Action Service is the best-connected
foreign office, mutually connected to 128 peers. Russia's Foreign Ministry is in second
position, maintaining mutual Twitter relations with 127 other world
leaders. The German Foreign Ministry has 116 mutual connections
with peers, followed by the UK Foreign Office and the Foreign
Ministry of Norway with 115 and
109 mutual connections, respectively.
The Donald Trump @WhiteHouse account does not follow any other
foreign leader. The archived @ObamaWhiteHouse account, conversely,
follows the UK government account, @Number10gov, and the Russian
Prime Minister's account, @MedvedevRussiaE.
The most followed non-government account is the United Nations
Twitter account, @UN, which is followed by 338 of the 856 world
leaders' Twitter accounts; @BarackObama and the @ObamaWhiteHouse
are followed by 312 and 254 world leaders, respectively. @UNICEF is
the second-most followed international organization andThe
New York Times (@NYTimes) is the most
followed news organization. The @Twiplomacy Twitter account is the
eighth-most followed non-governmental account by world leaders,
with a following of 184 heads of state and government, ahead of
@Reutersand @TheEconomist.
"Twitter facilitates relations between world leaders in today's
online world," said Matthias Lüfkens, Managing Director, Digital,
at Burson-Marsteller EMEA. "I am especially honored to see our
@Twiplomacy Twitter account among the most followed accounts by
heads of state and government."
Other key findings include:
- Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is Latin America's most followed leader. @EPN has
6.3 million followers, far ahead of Colombia's President @JuanManSantos,
Argentina's @MauricioMacri, and
Venezuela's @NicolasMaduro, each
of whom have more than 3 million followers.
- Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta, @UKenyatta, is Sub-Saharan
Africa's most followed leader with 2 million followers, ahead of
Rwanda's @PaulKagame and Nigerian
President Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari), both of whom have more than
1 million followers.
- The UK Prime Minister, @Number10gov, is the most followed EU
leader, with more than 5.1 million followers, ahead of the British
@RoyalFamily and France's @Elysee
Palace, with 2.9 and 1.5 million followers, respectively. Newly
elected French President @EmmanuelMacron has shot into fifth place
behind Spanish Prime Minister @MarianoRajoy, both with more than 1
million followers.
- Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, @HHShkMohd, is the most followed Arab leader with
7.9 million, followed by Jordan's
@QueenRania and Saudi Arabia's
@KingSalman with 6.5 million followers each.
- India's Foreign Minister,
@SushmaSwaraj, is the most followed female world leader with 8
million followers, ahead of Jordan's @QueenRania.
- Abdullah Bin Zayed, @ABZayed,
the Foreign Minister of the United Arab
Emirates, is the second-most followed foreign minister with
3.9 million followers, with Saudi
Arabia's Foreign Minister, @AdelAljubeir, in third place
with 1.3 million followers.
- Among the foreign ministries, the U.S. State Department
(@StateDept) is the most followed, with 4.3 million, ahead of the
Turkish Foreign Ministry (@TC_Disisleri) and India's @IndianDiplomacy, with more than 1.2
million followers each.
- More than 4,100 embassies and 1,100 ambassadors are currently
active on Twitter.
The complete collection of social media studies can be found on
bm.com and twiplomacy.com.
About the Study
Twiplomacy is Burson-Marsteller's
leading global study of how world leaders, governments and
international organizations use social media. The 2017 edition of
the study specifically looked at Twitter and we updated the studies
about Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Periscope. Data was
captured in May 2017, using
Burson-Marsteller's proprietary Burson tools, CrowdTangle.com and
Twitonomy.com.
About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller, established in 1953, is a leading global
strategic communications and public relations firm. It provides
clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full
range of public relations, public affairs, reputation and crisis
management, advertising and digital strategies. The firm's seamless
worldwide network consists of 77 offices and 85 affiliate offices,
together operating in 110 countries across six continents.
Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Group, a
subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), the world's leader in
communications services. For more information, please visit
www.burson-marsteller.com.
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/twitter-is-the-prime-social-media-network-for-world-leaders-300466300.html
SOURCE Burson-Marsteller