Tweet Your Leaders…#75 of 99 Things to Know About Social Media with Joey Little

Many people still remember writing letters to their congressmen or senators whenever they had an issue, a complaint, or feedback. It took paper, pens, envelopes, and stamps—as well as quite a bit of determination in order to get the attention of someone in a leadership position. Now, however, things are quite a bit different. In fact, the power of Twitter has taken hold of nearly everyone, so much so that in 2013 individuals could tweet at 75% of the world’s leaders on Twitter. Increasingly popular among world leaders, as of 2014, as many as 83% of leaders were present and accounted for on Twitter.

Twiplomacy is a global public relations study that delves into Twitter usage by world leaders. Conducted by Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations and communications firm, the study identifies and analyzes world leaders on Twitter and their Twitter usage. With 669 Twitter accounts identified belonging to heads of state and government, foreign ministers, and their institutions throughout 166 countries, Twiplomacy uses various data points to calculate Twitter activity and connections.

TheTwiplomacy 2015 study delves into the world of leadership via social media, showing us the power of Twitter is an effective way for leaders to reach the largest and widest spread followings with a small amount of time investment. As Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission says, “Twitter has proven to be a revolutionary social network even in politics. It is an extraordinary channel of diplomacy and of communication.”

Twitter is a powerful social network that is attractive to individual citizens interested in communicating with people everywhere, as well as world leaders whose jobs necessitate timely global communication. Interestingly enough, according to the Twipolmacy study, President Obama was the first world leader to set up a Twitter account on March 5, 2007 (at the time a US Senator). He is also the most followed and most listed leader on Twitter, appearing on over 207,000 Twitter lists. Other early adopters of Twitter include Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Canadian Prime Minister Harper, and the US State Department.

Although world leaders are known to tweet in 54 different languages, Spanish is the most tweeted language, with English being the language used in most world leaders’ accounts.

Why Twitter?

To some it might seem unlikely that so many of the world’s leaders can be found on Twitter—a network so many of us use every day to convey just about anything in short 140-character bursts—so why are they choosing the social scene? The short answer is this: Social media has amped things up for everyone, including world leaders. When it comes to getting their messages out and improving their visibility, social media has taken them from a local level to a global level. Instead of traveling, doing countless television interviews, or beating the streets, leaders can now post their messages on their social media platforms and instantly achieve global acclaim.

When you think about it, leaders are like a business. In order to be successful, they need to go where their customers—or constituents—are, and right now, most of those people are online, sharing their thoughts and opinions via social media. If world leaders want to be seen, heard, and appear relevant to their audience, they know they need to be where that audience is spending their time, and that is on social networks.

The power of Twitter lies in the fact that people are able to connect globally, and individuals quickly feel more connected to their leaders. With short posts, individuals are able to communicate direct messages to a large audience and interact almost immediately. More and more, leaders are acknowledging the need for their constituents to feel connected to them through various social media outlets, so it’s no surprise to note that the White House uses not only Twitter, but also Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Reddit to connect with citizens throughout the US.

Of course, busy world leaders are backed by large staffs of professionals, and that doesn’t stop when it comes to social media. While some leaders tweet for themselves, you can be sure many of them have staffers helping them out when it comes to social media posts and replies. So if you send an @ mention to a world leader, you can be pretty sure he or she probably won’t directly read it, however, there’s probably a staffer somewhere down the line who will give it a glance.

Elected in May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India wrote, “I am a firm believer in the power of technology and social media to communicate with people across the world.” As one of the top three most followed Twitter accounts, he is backing up his belief in the power of social media by interacting with his many followers via Twitter and his online platform.

While there are doubters when it comes to whether or not the importance of government matters can be conveyed in a mere 140 characters, a vast majority of world leaders resoundingly agree that twiplomacy is the way to go. No one is saying social networks will completely replace face-to-face meetings when it comes to important political work, however it’s smart to utilize the tools available in order to connect with and reach as many people as possible in an efficient and relevant way. The world is ready for twiplomacy, and world leaders are showing us they are embracing the technology!