Top 10 Rankings 2015

Research Note: World Leader Rankings on Twitter December 2015 13 Europe This year too, Europe failed to make an appearance in the Top 10 list. Leading the tally amongst the European leaders is Italian Prime Minister Matteo RenziI at #15, having moved up by one spot since last year and amassed over 2.1 million followers. French President François Hollande ranks at #17 with 1.38 million followers, having all but doubled his followers within a year. Close on the heels of Hollande is Prime Minister David Cameron from the UK with 1.31 million followers. Africa Rwanda’s @PaulKagame has become Africa’s most followed president with 1,325,231 followers, and is consistently ahead of Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta @UKenyatta (1,226,596 followers). South Africa’s new President Jacob Zuma has increased his Twitter presence after being re-elected in May 2014. He currently ranks at the 35th place, with 396,661 followers. The Middle East / Muslim World In 2015, five out of the top 15 heads of state using Twitter were predominantly Muslim countries. Furthermore, of the countries using Twitter, 32% are members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, an international organization founded in 1969 consisting of 57 member states that works to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.” Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo jumped up a spot to make it to the top ten list. In fact Widodo (4,119,812 followers), is almost neck to neck with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who is positioned at the 9th spot (4,194,920 followers). Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made a huge leap from rank #37 in 2014 to #24 in 2015, more than doubling his twitter followers with a year. Heads of states of both Saudi Arabia and Iran remained almost static in terms of their global rankings. In the war-torn Syria, President Bashar al-Assad continues to make a feeble attempt to put up a brave front and post hopeful messages including Christmas greetings thought the National Office account. He also seems to take a firm stance against Western politics and its influence in the current state of affair in the region. Some of his recent tweets read: “#ASSAD TO #NPO2 TV: #Crisis will end in less than one year if responsible countries take actions against terrorists’ flow and support.” “#ASSAD TO #NPO2 TV: Europe is exporting #terrorists to us. We do not export them; they came to #Syria, and then they go back to #Europe.”

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