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| (ANP/Twitter) |
World
leaders are fervent twitterers – it’s just a shame they’re so dull. Forty-two
percent of all heads of state and government leaders have a Twitter account,
according to a recent study by US bureau Digital Daya. The most popular among
them is US President Barack Obama, with more than 16 million followers. And
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez recently hit the three million mark.
But are any
of them actually worth following? Have they got anything interesting to say for
themselves? And do they answer back? Radio Netherlands Worldwide runs down the
ten most notable Twittering world leaders.
Fake leader
fun
If you like
your world leaders less dry than the real thing, try following one of the many
fake accounts. Like these:
1.
@KimJongNumberUn
2.
@Angela_D_Merkel
3.
@Queen_UK
4.
@KermlinRussia
5.
@Koningin_NL
1.
@BarackObama
More than
16 million followers, more than 4000 tweets.
US
President Barack Obama’s Twitter account is mainly full of tweets by his
campaign staff. Personal messages from the president are signed ‘BO’, but it’s
not often he has anything to say. Followers mostly get positive tweets about
the president’s achievements. And now the election campaign is underway,
negative tweets about his Republican rival Mitt Romney. At least there’s the
occasional photo for light relief – like a cool young Barack smooching with Michele back in 1992 or Barack playing ball in collar and tie.
2.
@chavezcandanga
More than
three million followers, more than 1600 tweets.
Venezuelan
President Hugo Chávez is a keen twitterer and has more followers than any other
Latin American head of state. He calls the medium ““a weapon that also needs to
be used by the revolution”.
Chávez’s
tweets are all upbeat messages about Venezuelan prosperity, wise government
decisions and the fruits of the revolution and socialism. His tweeting has
greatly boosted Twitter’s popularity in Venezuela. But of the 200 most followed
Venezuelans, 90 percent are fervent opponents of Chávez, research has shown.
3.
2number10gov
More than 2
million followers, more than 3500 tweets.
British
Prime Minister David Cameron comes in at number three, but his account doesn’t
offer much of any interest to follow. Cameron doesn’t tweet himself, but has an
“Executive Director of Digital’ dubbed in the UK press as “a highly paid
Twitter Tsar”. The tweets are about policy plans and meetings. The only
entertainment comes in the form of photos of Cameron chatting to young
entrepreneurs, nurses or foreign leaders.
4. @cbabdullahgul
More than
1.8 million followers, more than 800 tweets.
Turkish
President Abdullah Gül tweeted a year ago:
“In my
opinion, there should be no restrictions on freedom. People should be able to
surf the internet freely.”
He actually
only uses Twitter to post photos. Gül with businessmen, Gül with foreign
ministers, Gül addressing a crowd, Gül inspecting a building project, Gül in
his private jet: the Turkish president is one of the more entertaining world
leaders on Twitter – especially if you don’t speak Turkish.
5.
@HHShkMohd
Nearly
900,000 followers, more than 700 tweets.
In the
Middle East, Twitter played an important role in the Arab Spring, but the
region’s leaders don’t bother with it much. The big exception is Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.
The PM
tweets about his country’s achievements, and occasionally offers his wise
advice about inner happiness and welfare. The Sheikh is also on Facebook and
even has his own iPhone app.
The most
popular twitterer in the Middle East is Jordan’s Queen Rania (@QueenRania) with
more than 2.1 million followers.
6.
@noynoyaquino
Nearly
900,000 followers, more than 100 tweets.
Philippine
President Benigno Aquino III is the top twitterer among the Asian leaders. Not
that he’s had much to say recently. “Thank you for all your greetings,” was his
last tweet – on 8 February 2011. Other prominent twittering Asian leaders are
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck
Shinawatra. Indonesian President Yudhoyono doesn’t tweet himself – as far as we
know – but there’s an official-looking account featuring news about him:
@presidenSBY.
7.
@SAPresident
More than 120,000
followers, fewer than 100 tweets.
The most
popular African leader on Twitter is South African President Jacob Zuma. He
tweets about once a month, for example with congratulations for Bishop Desmond
Tutu on his birthday, or greetings to Muslims celebrating Eid.
After Zuma
comes Rwandan President Paul Kagame, @PaulKagame, with nearly 63,000 followers.
Kagame is unusual in that he tweets almost daily, buy rarely makes political
statements or messages about the country. He mainly sticks to answering other
people’s tweets, ranging from questions about political issues to requests for
shoutouts for someone’s birthday.
8. @MinPres
More than
100.000 followers, more than 500 tweets.
Dutch Prime
Minister Mark Rutte’s Twitter account is run by the Government Information
Service, so it’s not exactly thrilling. It’s mainly about parliamentary debates
and reports. You won’t get an answer from the PM on Twitter, though you can ask
him a question via his website. From time to time Rutte posts a video on
YouTube answering questions.
9.
@Netanyahu
More than
54,000 followers, nearly 500 tweets.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mainly has photos of meetings and hopeful
tweets like: 'Joint statement issued at end of meeting: #Israel & the PA
are committed to achieving #peace.'
10.
@govofvanuatu
Finally, an
honourable mention for the government account with the fewest followers: the
Twitter account of the government of Vanuatu has around 140 followers. All they
receive are brief reports and links to the government website.
Finally, do
the world leaders respond to their followers? We sent all the above leaders the
following tweet: 'Hello president .....! I have a question: do you answer
questions from your followers?'
We’ve heard
nothing from Barack Obama. But Rwandan President Paul Kagame replied, “Yes I
answer questions from followers...!” Obliging, though a ‘no’ would have been...
well... less boring.
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