Influential world leaders tweet often, but rarely connect

NEW DELHI: Anyone who is active on social media sites knows that big numbers are no indication of popularity or influence. Now, a study by a public relations firm confirms it.

A study by Burson-Marsteller has found that Barack Obama may have over 33 million followers on Twitter but he is not the most influential world leader on Twitter. Instead, this distinction belongs to Pope Francis, who tweets from the account @pontifex. Despite having just seven million followers, tweets made @pontifex are retweeted over 11,000 times on average. In comparison, tweets made from @barackobama account are retweeted 2,309 times on average.

The study, based on an analysis of 505 government accounts in 153 countries in early July, found that more than three quarters (77.7%) of world leaders have a Twitter account that they use to reach out to people. Of these, 68% leaders have made mutual connection with their peers, either by following them or by conversing them, on Twitter.

Most of these Twitter accounts are handled by official staff that manages the affairs for these world leaders. These leaders rarely make personal tweets or connect with their followers in any meaningful way.

The twitter account of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh follows the same pattern. “The Twitter account run by the office of the Indian Prime Minister is quite active with an average of almost 5 tweets a day … (but) it is clear that the main purpose of the account is to disseminate information. Engagement on the account is extremely limited. Only 1% of his tweets are replies and 5% retweets,” notes the report.

The @PMOIndia account mutually follows just one Twitter user — the prime minister of Singapore.

In fact, the study found that the leaders who are more influential in the real world tend to follow fewer accounts on Twitter and refrain from replying to their followers. For example, “almost a third (148) of all world leaders and governments are following Barack Obama (but) he only mutually follows two other world leaders — Norway’s Jens Stoltenberg and Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev”.

People want to engage with their leaders on Twitter”, notes Matthias Lufkens, Burson-Marsteller’s digital practice leader and author of the report, “However, it is astonishing to see that accounts with the largest number of followers have the least interaction with other Twitter users.”

According to the study, Swedish foreign minister @CarlBildt is the best connected world leader mutually following 44 peers. The European External Action Service (@eu_eeas) is the best connected Foreign Service with 36 mutual connections followed by the Polish foreign ministry @PolandMFA, the UK @ForeignOffice and the French foreign ministry @FranceDiplo.

In terms of engagement with followers, Ugandan prime minister @AmamaMbabazi is the most conversational leader with 96% of his tweets being replies to other users. The second and third on the list are Rwanda’s president @PaulKagame and Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt with his @fragaCarlBildt account.

“This study illustrates how Twitter and social media in general have become part and parcel of any integrated government communications”, said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa. “While Twitter is certainly not the only channel of communication and will not replace face-to-face meetings, it allows for direct peer-to-peer interaction,” he said.

Twitter is also used by smaller nations to put them on the world map. The Croatian government (@VladaRH) and the foreign minister of Iceland (@MFAIceland) are unilaterally following 195 and 142 peers and world leaders, probably with a hope that they will return the favour and follow them back.

Influential world leaders tweet often, but rarely connect