NEW YORK, June 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the past
five years, Twitter has become the ultimate channel for digital
diplomacy for world leaders and governments. It is the prime social
network used by heads of state and government in 173 countries,
representing 90 percent of all United Nations (UN) member states,
according to Burson-Marsteller's Twiplomacy study, an annual global
survey of world leaders on social media. Facebook is the
second-most used social platform by world leaders, with 169
governments having set up official pages. However, leaders have on
average twice as many followers on their Facebook pages as
followers on Twitter.
YouTube ranks third among social sharing platforms, used by 78
percent of all UN member states, ahead of Instagram which is used
by 70 percent. While Twitter communication is mainly text-based
including visuals, Instagram is picture-driven with minimal text
and more behind-the-scenes pictures. Governments with larger social
media teams also have been exploring more visual communications
with Vine and Snapchat, both of which target a younger audience of
Millennials. Governments that do not have full broadcasting
capabilities, mainly in Latin
America, are embracing Periscope and Facebook Live to
broadcast their press conferences.
The 2016 edition of Twiplomacy, which previously focused
solely on Twitter, has been expanded to examine the use of other
social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and
more niche digital diplomacy platforms such as Snapchat, LinkedIn,
Google+, Periscope and Vine. The Twiplomacy website includes live
rankings and the first ever social media atlas for each country
studied.
"Our Twiplomacy study shows people in positions of power are
increasingly tapping social media platforms to connect with the
audiences most important to them," said Don
Baer, Worldwide Chair and CEO, Burson-Marsteller. "As
engagement becomes one of the critical measures of social media
influence, our Twiplomacy study shows which political communicators
are most successful on which social platforms and what we can learn
from them."
This final installment of Twiplomacy 2016 provides lessons for
communicators on creating successful social media accounts and
driving online engagement. Based on combining data from the
different profiles with an in-depth analyses of the content, the
most notable findings include the importance of being visual and
creative, tailoring content to the specific platform, projecting a
human face and timeliness. The world leaders using social media
with the most success are U.S. President Barack Obama and his White
House team, Mauricio Macri
(Argentinian President) and Justin
Trudeau (Canadian Prime Minster), among others found in the
study.
"This cross-platform study shows that world leaders are
increasingly taking an integrated approach across several social
media channels, an indication of where more and more business
leaders are likely to move as well," said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa and Global Chief Strategy Officer. "We
are seeing that world leaders are allowing people to 'meet' the
personality behind the official title – and that today, much
more than words, creative or personal images get messages
across most powerfully, a tactic that corporate leaders can use
just as effectively."
The latest installment of the 2016 Twiplomacy study analyzed 793
Twitter accounts of heads of states and governments in 173
countries with a combined total audience of 324 million
followers.
This year's U.S. elections will not only signal the end of
Obama's presidency, but the loss of the uncontested leader of the
digital diplomatic world. With the largest following of all world
leaders combined, the man who has most successfully managed to
communicate his personal image through his online profile will
retire with an audience of 137 million followers, fans and
subscribers. The Barack Obama Twitter account following alone
numbers 74 million, well ahead of Pope Francis in second position,
with 28 million, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in third
with 19 million followers.
However, Burson-Marsteller's Twitter study revealed that a
massive following does not always translate into influence. The
official presidential @POTUS Twitter account, set up in
May 2015, has become the seventh most
followed account with 7.6 million followers, and it is by far the
most effective account considering it averages 12,350 retweets per
tweet. In comparison, the tweets sent by the @BarackObama account,
which has ten times as many followers as @POTUS, are only retweeted
on average 1,572 times.
Foreign ministries tend to use Twitter to establish mutual
relations. In May 2015, the U.S.
State Department used Twitter to re-establish ties with its Cuban
counterpart, months before the official re-establishment of
diplomatic relations. The State Department also tried to connect
with Iran's President Hassan
Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, but has unfollowed both
men who had not reciprocated.
The EU External Action Service is the best connected foreign
office, mutually connected to 122 peers. Russia's Foreign Ministry is in second
position, maintaining mutual Twitter relations with 111 other world
leaders, and the Norwegian Foreign Ministry is in third place with
100 mutual connections.
The most followed non-government account is the United Nations
Twitter account @UN, which is followed by 296 of the 793 world
leaders' Twitter accounts; The New York
Times (@NYTimes) is the most followed news organization,
and @UNICEF is the second most followed international organization.
The @Twiplomacy Twitter account is the fourth-most followed
non-governmental account by world leaders, with a following of 162
heads of state and government, ahead of The Economist, the
BBC, Reuters and CNN, respectively.
"Twitter facilitates relations between world leaders in today's
online world," said Matthias Lüfkens, Managing Director, Digital,
at Burson-Marsteller EMEA. "I am especially honored to see our
@Twiplomacy Twitter account among the most followed accounts by
heads of state and government."
Other key findings include:
- India's Foreign Minister
@SushmaSwaraj is the most followed female leader with 5 million
followers, ahead of Jordan's
@QueenRania with 4.7 million followers.
- The UK Prime Minister @Number10gov is the most followed
European Union leader with more than 4.4 million followers, ahead
of Italy's @MatteoRenzi and the
British @RoyalFamily with 2.3 million and 2.2 million followers,
respectively.
- Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta @UKenyatta has become Sub-Saharan
Africa's most followed leader with 1.4 million followers, closely
followed by Rwanda's @PaulKagame
ahead of South Africa's
presidential administration (@PresidencyZA), with 673,000
followers.
- In Latin America, Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto @EPN has
5.2 million followers, far ahead of Colombia's President @JuanManSantos,
Venezuela's @NicolasMaduro and
Argentina's @MauricioMacri, with
well over 2.8 million followers each.
- Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al
Maktoum @HHShkMohd is the most followed Arab leader with 6
million, followed by Saudi
Arabia's @KingSalman with 5 million, Jordan's @QueenRania and Abdullah Bin Zayed (@ABZayed), the Foreign
Minister of the United Arab
Emirates, with 3 million followers.
- Among the foreign ministries, the U.S. State Department
(@StateDept) is the most followed with 2.6 million followers ahead
of the Turkish (@TC_Disisleri) and the Russian (@MID_RF) foreign
ministries with more than one million followers each.
More than 5,000 embassies and ambassadors are now active on
Twitter; it has become the voice of diplomatic missions in
New York, Washington, London and Brussels.
The complete collection of social media studies can be found on
bm.com and twiplomacy.com.
About the Study
Twiplomacy is
Burson-Marsteller's leading global study of how world leaders,
governments and international organizations use social media. The
2016 edition of the study has expanded beyond Twitter to other
social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube,
Google+, LinkedIn and more niche digital diplomacy platforms such
as Snapchat, Periscope and Vine. Data was captured in May 2016, using Burson-Marsteller's proprietary
Burson tools.
About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller, established in 1953, is a leading global
strategic communications and public relations firm. It provides
clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full
range of public relations, public affairs, reputation and crisis
management, advertising and digital strategies. The firm's seamless
worldwide network consists of 73 offices and 85 affiliate offices,
together operating in 110 countries across six continents.
Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Group, a
subsidiary of WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY), the world's leader in
communications services. For more information, please visit
www.burson-marsteller.com.
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SOURCE Burson-Marsteller