There was a time when a leader rode on high horse, but now it’s more like being a little birdie that tweets. The technological innovation has changed it even for the leaders who now like to match their steps with the crowd. The list is formed as per the 2012 ranking report on the usage of the social media by the state heads prepared by the Digital Policy Council, an international, non-partisan ‘think tank’ on the 21st Century Governance. Here are the top 10 leaders with high Twitter records, as per rediff.com.
Barack Obama
With over 24 million followers and an additional 15 million followers in a year it’s no surprise that President Obama is on the top spot of the list. His 2012 re election was a major Twitter record breaker. The picture sent out on Twitter of President Obama and the first lady Michelle Obama with the tag, ‘Four more years’, after his win is the most retweeted tweet of all time. On the day of his win over 31 million election related tweets were sent out.
Hugo Chavez
The President of Venuzvela, Hugo Chavez has maintained his number 2 spot with the 2 million followers who joined his account in 2012. When compared to President Obama’s follower count Hugo Chavez has a lot to make up for as he has 20 million less followers compared to Obama.
Abdullah Gül
The President of Turkey, Abdullah Gül has enhanced his number of followers by over 2 million in 2012. Being an early adopter of Twitter, Abdullah Gül does most of his tweeting in Turkish, however the significant statements are also made in English as and when it’s required.
On his first visit to the Silicon Valley in California he tweeted, “This is the first time a Turkish president travels to this region of the US. Here is where technology that changes our lives is born,” reported rediff.com.
Queen Rania of Jordan
Queen Rania, the queen consort of the king of Jordan is on the fourth place. Since she’s facing criticism, which remarked on her playing too prominent part in ‘running Jordan’, Queen Rania had scaled down on her public activities. However this didn’t cap her account form followers wanting to join. Instead the number of followers grew as more than one million followers joined her account. On her Twitter account she called herself as, ‘a mum and a wife with a really cool day job,’ and now has over 2 million followers.
Dmitry Medvedev
The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is a fresh new entry on Twitter top 10 list in 2012. He has separate accounts to tweet in his Russian language and in English. He created his personal account on his name in both the languages in 2010 and at present the account in his native language has the largest followers. Following Medvedev’s pattern of Twitter execution, many of the world leaders have opened Twitter accounts in both their native language and English, which allows them to reach out to the large public.
Dilma Rouseff
The President of Brazil Dilma Rouseff is on the sixth spot. She is the 36th and present President of Brazil and has been in Office since January 2011. She is also the first women to be elected President in Brazil. During her election in 2011 she had a reasonable number of followers. Since then she was barely consistent at maintaining her account, even then she has a large number of followers joining her account indicating the keen interest of people in Brazil to connect with their President and fill the gap.
Cristina Fernandez De Kirchner
The President of Argentina Cristina Fernandez De Kirchner, better known as Cristina Kirchner or CFK is on the seventh spot. She is the 55th and the present President of Argentina.
In 2010 when the Argentinean President appeared on Twitter, the political setup in Argentina completely transformed as Twitter turned into a central combat zone between politicians and citizens. Cristina Kirchner sent out five tweets in succession when she was reelected in 2012, congratulating Venezuela with ‘Your victory is also ours’.
Juan Manuel Santos
The President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos is number 8 on the list. He is another one of the new entries among the top ten leaders, with an increased number of followers estimated to over a million since 2011. In 2012 the tweets on his account got tough since he made it clear that he has his own agenda for Colombia rather than working on those set by the former president Alvaro Uribe.
Enrique Pena Nieto, Mexican President
Enrique Pena Nieto is the 57th and the present President of Mexico. He has remained on the list with his increased popularity on Twitter. He was declared the elected President after the 2012 general election. He returned to power in December 2012 after succeeding Felipe Calderon as the President. On his election day he tweeted, “Now is the time to start a new stage of work, for the good of Mexico,” as per rediff.com. The comment was widely shared.
Sheikh Mohammed
The Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed is on the 10th spot on the Twitter list. In 2012 Sheikh Mohammed’s twitter account had 910,000 followers within a span of a year. In the country he is the second most commented subject as per a recent study. He often shares the events he attended, future plans, ideas and various achievements on his account. Some find his tweet as ‘an image of equality, encouragement and comfortable interaction with citizens’.
The Prime minister of India Manmohan Singh is ranked 19th by Digital Policy Council as the most followed leader of the world on Twitter. Singh superseded British Prime Minister David Cameron and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, within a span of 12 months.
The leaders who constantly drive to make it better for the people and the country they serve create a special bond with the people. This bond is unique between the state and people, and now with modern technology it is convenient for both state and the public to bridge that gap, and express their views with more lucidity.
