World Leaders On Twitter

Research Note: World Leader Rankings on Twitter October 2010  2  The effect of which was to declare Information maintained by the Federal Government a national asset to be made accessible online to the public, to offer citizens a chance to participate more directly in policymaking through the Internet, and to use innovative technologies to build new models for private-public-partnerships. In March 22, 2010, the former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown followed suit with his own manifesto entitled 'Building Britain’s Digital Future', which declared the determination to harness the new digital technology to drive a radical reshaping of government. The direction was further reinforced under the new administration of Prime Minister David Cameron wherein The National Archives announced the Open Government License, granting individuals, entrepreneurs and application developers unlimited use of government data without having to ask permission. The Australian Government joined in on July 16, 2010 with its much anticipated commitment to open government. Spearheaded by the former Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner, the declaration fortified citizen’s rights of access to information and a pro-disclosure culture across the Australian Government - to the point where government agencies are explicitly directed to undertake social networking, crowdsourcing and online collaboration with citizens on policy and service delivery to enhance the processes of government. The Japanese government launched its own open government portal in August of 2010 commissioned by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to utilize the Internet to promote Japanese citizen participation in public administration. The simple concept behind all these initiatives is good governance; that the adoption of Internet technologies can drive considerable efficiency and innovation to the practice of government. This transformation mirrors the technology-enabled business process reengineering that has taken place in the private sector over the last decade. Noteworthy Changes in The Top 10 The heads of state in the Top 10 list has changed dramatically since the beginning of the year seeing four new entrants from Venezuela, Mexico, Thailand and Turkey along with the exit of some key proponents of social media due to political administration changeovers. President Obama retains the top spot with a vast 5.6 million followers having added over 1.5 million followers from the beginning of the year. However his Twitter account communication is often criticized as overly sanitized as it is being managed by the Organizing for America grassroots group sponsored by the U.S. Democratic Party. The 10 Downing Street Twitter account retains the #2 spot despite remaining relatively static since the changeover in administration with exit of the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Notwithstanding calls from his own conservative party for a "big hitter on Twitter", U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron does not personally tweet and all communications refer to him in the third party. Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had amassed nearly one million followers, however Australia no longer finds itself in the top ten as current Prime Minister Julia Gillard's following of 60,000 falls far short. www.digitaldaya.com