Top 10 Rankings 2015

Research Note: World Leader Rankings on Twitter December 2015 12 Regional Concentrations “Twitter has proven to be a revolutionary social network even in politics. It is an extraordinary channel of diplomacy and of communication.” - Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice President of the European Cofrenmmission. Latin America Gone are the days when a leader’s long-drawn fiery speeches won vote banks. For global leaders today, Twitter's 140 characters or less are enough to do the campaigning and the connecting. Tweets now serve as a powerful channel of communication whether it is to forge alliances or to voice out ‘differences’. The medium is especially popular in Latin America, especially South America, with top leaders from Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia and Peru actively engaging with their citizens via Twitter. Argentina’s former Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is well known for her prolific tweets, at times tweeting up to 60 times in a single day. She often criticized her political opponents as well as the media for slandering her reputation and publishing false stories about her. She again created headlines when she refused to give up her official Twitter account after she lost the presidential elections in October. She even indulged in a series of questionable spats with her successor to the presidency, Mauricio Macri. In a politically charged country such as Venezuela, politicians often use to advocate their political agenda and win over their citizens. According to comScore, almost one out of four Venezuelans in the country use Twitter regularly. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is also known to use Twitter to argue with former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin. Venezuelan officials "don't communicate first by television, radio or a speech, but through Twitter," said Javier Pereira, the El Nacional newspaper's website coordinator. "That has caused us to be alert, monitoring constantly." Brazil (rank #8), Colombia (rank #9) and Venezuela (rank #12) rank among the world's top 12 in the use of Twitter.

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