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Governments and World Leaders on Social Media 2024

The past twelve months have been challenging for governmental social media managers worldwide. The demise of Twitter with the rebranding of the platform to 𝕏, and the multiple changes to the platform – from the sudden loss of the verification badge, to paying for Premium features – have prompted community managers to look for alternatives.

While there has not been a notable 𝕏-odus yet, social-media teams are seeking alternatives. With every change on 𝕏, alternative platforms such as Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, and WhatsApp have gained traction as governments and world leaders try to rebuild their communities and re-engage their audience on different channels even though interactions. Engaging on new channels is difficult since community engagement is somewhat lackluster on the emerging platforms.

In this study, we rank 4,267 social media channels of heads of state, heads of government and foreign ministers and their institutions on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Telegram, Threads, TikTok, WhatsApp, 𝕏, and YouTube as well as BeReal, Bluesky, Mastodon, and Snapchat.

Indian Prime Minister Modi is the world leader with the most followers. He has 276 million followers and subscribers on his personal account and an additional 72 million on his institutional account @PMOIndia. The Indian leader leads by a wide margin on the main channels – Facebook, Instagram, 𝕏, WhatsApp, and YouTube – but he is neither on Threads nor on TikTok, a platform which is banned in India.

The Indonesian President Joko Widodo is in second place with a total of 90 million followers on all channels combined. Likewise, he is not on Threads nor TikTok or any of the emerging channels yet. U.S. President Joe Biden is in third place with a total of 70 million followers on all channels combined – including Snapchat and TikTok – and 69 million total followers on his institutional @POTUS account. France’s 35-year-old Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is active on the Gen-Z channels such as Snapchat, TikTok and BeReal.

The European Commission has a total of ten million followers on subscribers and is the only governmental institution active on all the above platforms except TikTok and BeReal and has even set up a broadcast channel on Instagram.

For smaller social media teams, it is literally impossible to serve communities on all 13 networks and they will have to choose the platforms best suited to reach their national and/or international audiences.

𝕏 is still the most used social media platform by governments: 190 of the 193 UN member countries have an official presence on the platform – only Laos, North Korea and Turkmenistan don’t have any social media presence.

However, 𝕏 is no longer the only platform for world leaders to communicate: the leaders of 187 countries have a presence on Facebook, 178 are present on Instagram, 173 have a channel on YouTube and 163 are on LinkedIn. The governments and leaders of 106 countries are on TikTok and 87 have set up accounts on Threads over the past nine months.

These emerging platforms have been a challenge for 𝕏. However, none of these platforms are likely to ever replace 𝕏. Rather, all platforms will co-exist, and governments must figure out on which platform to invest their efforts and resources.

World Leaders on Facebook

The 785 pages analysed in our study have a combined audience of 438,084,719 followers and a median average of 74,791 making Facebook one of the best social networks to reach large audiences. The overall growth of the pages over the past year has somewhat slowed with a median average growth rate of only 5.4%.

The new president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo has seen a 50-fold increase of his followers since May 2023. Ecuador’s new President Daniel Noboa has registered a tenfold increase of his followers which goes to show that Facebook is still the best platform to reach a national audience. Seventy-four pages have been dormant over the past twelve months.

Most Followed World Leaders on Facebook 2024

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most followed world leader on Facebook with 63 million followers on his personal and his institutional page @PMOIndia combined. U.S. President Joe Biden has half as many followers on his personal and institutional page @POTUS. Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo is in third place with 11 million followers. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan complete the top 5 list of the most followed world leaders on Facebook.

Most Followed African Leaders on Facebook 2024

Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is Sub-Saharan Africa’s most followed leader on Facebook with 4.7 million followers. Kenya’s President William Samoei Ruto and Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo are in second and third place with 2.7 and 2.1 million followers respectively.

Senegal’s newly appointed Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko has seen a 30% growth in his followers and Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno has seen his audience triple during the recent election campaign.

Most Followed Arab Leaders on Facebook 2024

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is by far the Arab world’s most followed leader on Facebook with more than 10 million followers.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani are in second and third place with 3.9 and 2 million followers respectively.

Most Followed East Asian Leaders on Facebook 2024

Indonesian President Joko Widodo leads the Facebook rankings in East Asia with 11 million followers.

President Bongbong Marcos of the Philippines is in second place with 7.4 million followers and Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has 2.6 million followers.

Outgoing Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is in fourth place and Cambodia’s new Prime Minister Hun Manet who succeeded his father in August 2023 is in fifth place but hasn’t set up a custom URL yet.

Most Followed EU Leaders on Facebook 2024

French President Emmanuel Macron is the most followed leader in the European Union with 4.8 million followers, followed by Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni with an audience of 2.9 million on Facebook.

Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis is in third place with 1.8 million followers ahead of Hungary’s Viktor Orban with 1.3 million followers.

Slovakia’s outgoing President Zuzana Čaputová and Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen make it into the Top10 list with 380,000 followers each.

Most Followed Latin American Leaders on Facebook 2024

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are Latin America’s biggest leaders on Facebook with 10.4, 7.2 and 5.7 million followers respectively.

Argentina’s new President Javier Milei has seen his Facebook community grow by more than 50% over the past 12 months.

And finally, Honduran President Xiomara Castro de Zelaya is the only woman in the Top10 list of Latin American leaders which counts only three women.

Most Followed Foreign Ministers on Facebook 2024

Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron is now the most followed Foreign Minister on Facebook with more than one million followers.

Kenya’s Musalia Mudavadi is in second place with 765,000 followers, followed by Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó who clocks up more than 400,000 followers on the platform.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong makes it into the Top10 at N°10 with close to 200,000 followers.

Most Followed Foreign Ministries on Facebook 2024

Facebook might not be the obvious platform for digital diplomacy, and most foreign ministries are catering to a national audience on the platform.

The U.S. State Department is by far the most followed foreign ministry on Facebook with close to 3.6 million followers on its different language pages.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs is in second place with 2.1 million followers. The foreign ministries of Egypt, the Philippines, and Germany complete the top 5 list with 1.7, 1.3 and 1.1 million followers respectively.

Wondering which governments and leaders are on Facebook? Like @DigiTips on Facebook and peruse the accounts we’ve liked. It might be easier to get the full rankings of all 785 pages on Gumroad ($).

World Leaders on Instagram

The 708 Instagram accounts in this study have a combined audience of 425,228,835, which is almost as many as the total Facebook audience for these leaders. The median average number of followers stands at 23,105 per account, only a third of the average follower number on Facebook and less than 𝕏.

However, over the past twelve months the world leader accounts had a median average growth of 10% which is twice as much as on Facebook and 𝕏. Seventeen accounts are private, and 116 accounts are dormant or inactive such as the pages of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Polish President Andrezj Duda.

Most Followed World Leaders on Instagram 2024

Having registered a 19% growth rate year on year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is again the most followed world leader on Instagram with a whopping 88.7 million followers.

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo is in second place with 58 million followers. Both leaders had received over 150 million interactions on their respective posts in the last 12 months. The Indian leader has an interaction rate of 2.8%.

The institutional @POTUS account and the personal @JoeBiden account have a combined following of 36 million, but both have lost followers over the past year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has shed 6%of his followers since May 2023 but is still in fourth place. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele made in into the Top10 list with a growth rate of 45% over the past year.

Most Followed African Leaders on Instagram 2024

The African leaders Instagram ranking is led by a woman. Samia Suluhu Hassan, the President of Tanzania has over 2 million followers on the platform and doubled her followers year on year.

In second place is Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo followed by Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame with 1.4 and 1.3 million followers respectively.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s new President has tripled his audience on Instagram and lands in fourth place with 1.1 million followers.

Most Followed Arab Leaders on Instagram 2024

The leaders of the United Arab Emirates top the Arab leaders Instagram rankings. Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has 8.6 million followers, ahead of the President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan with 3.6 million followers.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Iraq’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani complete the top 5 list with 3, 2.3 and 1.5 million followers respectively.

Most Followed East Asian Leaders on Instagram 2024

As on Facebook and 𝕏 the trio consisting of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Filipino President Bongbong Marcos and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim top the Instagram rankings.

Joko Widodo or Jokowi as he is known on social media has 58 million followers far ahead of his peers with both at 1.1 million followers on Instagram.

Thailand’s new Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has seen his follower numbers explode by an astonishing 1,762% year on year.

Most Followed EU Leaders on Instagram 2024

French President Emmanuel Macron also tops the EU Instagram rankings with 3.5 million followers.

With 2.7 million followers Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has shot into second place and an impressive growth rate of 69% year on year.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in third position with 2.2 million followers on his official account as @Bundeskanzler (Federal Chancellor) and his personal profile combined.

It is interesting to note that female leaders are strongly represented in the Top 10 Instagram ranking, namely Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Slovakia’s Zuzana Čaputová, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Most Followed Latin American Leaders on Instagram 2024

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the most followed Latin American leader on Instagram with more than 13 million followers.

The President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele is in second position with close to seven million followers and Argentina’s new President Javier Milei rocks into third place with 5.6 million followers, tripling his community on Instagram.

Ecuador’s young President Daniel Noboa has increased his Instagram followers 50-fold and makes it into the Top10 list of Latin American leaders.

Most Followed Foreign Ministers on Instagram 2024

India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is the most followed foreign minister on Instagram with 2.2 million followers.

He is followed by Retno Marsudi, the foreign minister of Indonesia. Among the Top10 list are four female foreign ministers, namely Germany’s Annalena Baerbock, Argentina’s Diana Mondino and Australia’s Penny Wong which is an example of the emergence of a feminist foreign policy at least on digital platforms.

Most Followed Foreign Ministries on Instagram 2024

The Foreign Ministry of Israel with 1.5 million followers on its @StateofIsrael country account top the ranking of the most followed foreign ministries on Instagram.

The U.S. State Department is not far behind thanks to its language accounts in Arabic, Farsi, and Russian.

The German foreign ministry has two popular Arabic and Spanish channels with 150,000 and 100,000 followers respectively.

The French Foreign Ministry has recently added Spanish and English Instagram channels to its roster a prerogative to communicate on Threads.

Wondering who else is on Instagram? Follow @DigiTips on Instagram and peruse the accounts we follow or download the full rankings of all 708 accounts on Gumroad ($).

World Leaders on Threads

Threads, released in July 2023 is Meta’s latest attempt to build a text-based social network to complement Facebook and Instagram. Only a quarter of the 709 Instagram accounts in this study have activated a Threads account. Heavy hitters like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo are not on Threads yet.

Threads is intimately linked to Instagram: you need an Instagram account to set up Threads and the Instagram followers are automatically ported over to the new network, a measure designed to help kick-start the activity. However, despite the follower boost, only a small fraction of the Instagram followers follows world leaders on Threads: on average world leaders have 13% of their Instagram followers on Threads.

Furthermore, less than half of the 191 world leader accounts on Threads are active. One hundred channels are either inactive or have been dormant for months. This lack of enthusiasm for the new platform has two reasons. Firstly, the engagement on Threads lacks far behind other social networks. Secondly, Threads doesn’t provide any meaningful analytics and there are no third-party publishing tools which would facilitate publishing.

Therefore, many social media teams have decided to wait and see how the platform evolves, moreover since Meta has announced not to amplify political content on the platform.

On the other hand, some accounts are trying to be more social on the platform. Case in point the U.S. State Department has adopted a more conversational tone and often replies to its followers, which the department doesn’t do on other social media channels.

Most Followed World Leaders on Threads 2024

Threads received a boost when the U.S. administration joined the network on November 20, 2023, Joe Biden’s birthday. The U.S. President has quickly become the most followed world leader on the platform with total of 5.4 million followers on his @JoeBiden and @POTUS accounts combined.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is in second place with more than two million followers and Nayib Bukele, the President of El Salvador is in third place with more than 800,000 followers.

Interestingly, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Prime Minister and ruler of Dubai is in fourth place although his account has been inactive since its creation at the end of December 2023.

Most Followed EU Leaders on Threads 2024

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was an early adopter of the platform when it was released in the European Union in mid-December 2023, and she has more 278,000 followers.

Czech President Petr Pavel is in second position followed by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with 83,000 and 67,000 followers respectively.

The key to successful posting on Threads is t be conversational which is unfortunately anathema for most world leaders and their social media managers.

Most Followed Foreign Ministers on Threads 2024

Threads is still in its infancy and most foreign ministers have relatively small audiences on the platform.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is the most followed foreign minister with more than 55,000 followers.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Tanzania’s Foreign Minister January Makamba have 33,000 and 23,000 followers respectively.

Most Followed Foreign Ministries on Threads 2024

The U.S. State Department is the most followed foreign ministry on Threads with close to 200,000 followers.

The Foreign Ministry of Israel and the @StateofIsrael account clock up 158,000 followers.

The Mexican and Colombian Foreign Ministries are far behind with only 25,000 followers each.

The European Action Service @EUDiplomacy completes the top 5 list with 21,000 followers.

Wondering who else is on Threads? @DigiTips is on Threads and we follow all heads of state and government so you don’t have to. The full rankings of all 190 Threads accounts is available on Gumroad ($).

World Leaders on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the social network which has probably benefited the most from the decline of 𝕏. The self-proclaimed ‘professional network’ has passed the one billion user mark in November 2023.

All 423 pages and personal accounts of world leaders have a combined total following of 35,453,432. But the median average of all pages stands at only 2,541 per page. However, considering only the 169 active pages the median average stands at 18,595 followers per page which is still only half compared to the median average on 𝕏.

The LinkedIn pages and accounts have seen double digit growth of 19% over the past 12 months and active accounts have seen a record average growth rate of 24%.

Given these strong growth figures it seems surprising that no more leaders engage on the platform. More than half of the LinkedIn pages of leaders and governments are still inactive. They have never shared a post to reach a more professional crowd.

Most Followed World Leaders on LinkedIn 2024

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the most followed world leader on LinkedIn with 5.4 million, despite having shed several thousand followers over the past year.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in second place with 4.3 million followers. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates has garnered more than three million followers despite having been dormant for almost a year.

French President Emmanuel Macron and the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak complete the Top 5 list with more than two million followers each.

Most Followed Governments on LinkedIn 2024

The EU Commission is by far the most followed governmental institution with close to two million followers on LinkedIn.

The Government of Canada is in second place with more than 700,000 followers. The page of the UK Civil Service, the European Council and the Dutch government complete the top 5 list with more than 300,000 followers each.

Most Followed EU Leaders on LinkedIn 2024

French President Emmanuel Macron leads the LinkedIn list of the most followed EU leaders with 2.8 million followers, twice as many as EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with 1.4 million followers.

France’s young Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is in third place with 276,000 followers.

Notice how several EU leaders such as Charles Michel, Ireland’s Taoiseach Simon Harris and Slovenia’s President Nataša Pirc Musar haven’t created their custom URL, still having numbers and letters in their handle.

Most Followed Foreign Ministers on LinkedIn 2024

Among the foreign ministers on LinkedIn former UK Prime Minister David Cameron reigns supreme with 2.3 million followers.

Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, and France’s Stéphane Séjourné are the second and third most followed on LinkedIn. With Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, Costa Rica’s Arnoldo André Tinoco and Belgium’s Hadja Lahbib they still haven’t created their custom URL yet.

Most Followed Foreign Ministries on LinkedIn 2024

The U.S. State Department is by far the most followed foreign ministry with 1.1 million followers of its Department of State career page.

The foreign ministries of the United Kingdom, Canada and France all have more than 300,000 followers on LinkedIn.

The pages of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs and the Belgian Foreign Ministry have enjoyed strong growth rates of more than 20% over the past twelve months.

Download the full rankings of all 422 LinkedIn accounts on Gumroad ($).

World Leaders on Telegram

Telegram is the main messaging app in many countries of the former Soviet empire and in Iran. Founded by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov it has moved its headquarters to Dubai.

Since the start of Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022 Telegram has become the main news platform for Ukrainians. At the start of the war in early 2022 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had 1.5 million followers on the platform.

For Western diplomats it was a way to reach Russian speakers in Russia and reach out to Iranians through bespoke language channels. The U.S. State Department communicates through its Russian @USApoRusski and Farsi @USAdarFarsi channels on the platform.

We have found 116 channels of world leaders with a combined audience of 5,798,108 subscribers and a median average of 7,288 subscribers per channel. Over the past 12 months all channels combined have seen a median average growth of 12% while some have seriously declined.

Most Followed World Leaders on Telegram 2024

Follower numbers on Telegram are fickle to say the least. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is still the most followed world leader on Telegram, has lost 17% of his followers year on year and stands at 770,000. That is less than half of what he had two years ago.

The presidents of Brazil, Mexico, and Turkey have also seen their numbers dwindle by up to 30%.

On the other hand, the news channel of Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei enjoys a strong growth of more than 50%. We cannot explain this kind of fluctuation of audience figures.

Most Followed Governments on Telegram 2024

The Telegram channels of the Ukrainian government @UkraineNow have lost a third of their followers over the past twelve months and the MyGov Newsdesk channel of the Indian government has seen half of their subscribers disappear.

But both governments are still on top of the Telegram ranking of governmental channels with 900,000 and 600,000 subscribes respectively.

Interestingly, the news channel of the Kremlin has seen its subscribers grow by 44% over the same period. The Belarusian, Kazakh, and Syrian government channels also continue to flourish on the platform.

The @pul_1 channel of the Belarus presidency is a good source for insights into the daily activities of the Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko who is personally not on any social media channel.

World Leaders on TikTok

TikTok has been banished from government devices in the U.S., the UK, and the EU administration in Brussels for security reasons. It might one day be banned in the U.S. if its Chinese owner doesn’t divest the platform to a U.S.-based company.

However, these restrictions haven’t stopped world leaders from embracing the extremely popular video sharing app. Joe Biden opened his TikTok campaign account on February 12, 2024, to reach a younger audience all while signing the bill to divest or ban the Chinese-owned platform two months later.

The European Parliament started its TikTok channel at the end of February 2024 to bring the parliament’s work closer to Generation-Z ahead of the European elections in June 2024. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz opened his @TeamKanzler account, the only way to counter the far-right populists who dominate on the platform.

We have identified 207 TikTok channels of leaders and governments in 108 countries, a third of which are verified with a blue check mark. Forty-one seem to be mere placeholders and are inactive. The channels have a combined audience of 47,346,172 followers with a median average of 13,450 followers per account.

TikTok is the platform where world leaders enjoy the biggest growth with a median average growth rate of 26% over the past 12 months. No wonder event Donald Trump’s campaign team is considering a presence on the platform.

Most Followed World Leaders on TikTok 2024

TikTok is particularly popular with Latin American leaders and governments almost all of which have an active presence on the platform.

Seven Latin American presidents rank in the Top10 list of the most followed world leaders on TikTok starting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele who was an early adopter and has clocked up more than eight million followers.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is in second place with 4.5 million, closely followed by French President Emmanuel Macron with 4.2 million. The French President is one of the few who organize annual Q&A sessions on his social channels.

Most Followed EU Leaders on TikTok 2024

European leaders have also embarked on TikTok and use the platform for serious policy statements, answering questions, participating in memes, or a giving a candid look into their daily lives and official visits.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are leading the pack with 4.2 and 1.5 million followers respectively. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk is in third place with more than half a million followers.

The Polish President Andrzej Duda who was one of the early adopters set his profile @AndrzejDudanaTikToku to private, but still has more than 350,000 followers.

France’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is in fifth place and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz who only started his TikTok journey on April 8, 2024, made it into the Top 10 list with more than 200,000 followers. As he announced on 𝕏: “I promise not to dance” as leaders are taking pains not to be seen as the grandpa at the party.

Wondering who else is on TikTok? Follow @DigiTips on TikTok and peruse the accounts we follow. Or download the full rankings of all 207 channels on Gumroad ($).

World Leaders on 𝕏

The 1,187 accounts analysed in our study have a combined following of 788,073,354 and the median average for each account stands at 43,851. The accounts have witnessed a slow growth of 5.6% over the past 12 months and 200 have lost some of their followers.

Half of the accounts are verified and sport a grey government badge, while some have decided to pay US$8 per month to get the precious blue tick and its Premium features. However, some leading accounts such as the personal account of German Chancellor @OlafScholz don’t have any verification mark on the platform.

More than 300 accounts are either dormant or inactive, but no world leader has yet ostensibly left 𝕏 to protest the changes of the platform. The only government which recently deleted its account is the government of Liechtenstein since their account had only reached 1,112 followers after 12 years of existence.

The Russian governmental accounts @KremlinRussia, @KremlinRussia_E, @Pravitelstvo_RF and @GovernmentRF are dormant since March 2022 when the platform was blocked in Russia after the attack on Ukraine. However, the Russian Foreign Ministry continues to share its propaganda on the platform.

The Press Secretary of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele @SecPrensaSV is by far the most prolific account with an average of 226 posts per day, far ahead of the team of Argentinean President Javier Milei @JMilei who publishes on average 75 posts per day and the Foreign Ministry of Venezuela @CancilleriaVE with close to 50 daily posts.

Most Followed World Leaders on 𝕏 2024

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains the most followed world leader on 𝕏 approaching the 100-million-follower mark on his personal account and more than 50 million on his institutional @PMOIndia account.

U.S. President Joe Biden is far behind with half of the followers of the Indian leader.

Pope Francis has 50 million followers on his nine language accounts but has seen his flock decline by 1%.

Most Followed African Leaders on 𝕏 2024

Kenya’s President William Samoei Ruto is Sub-Saharan Africa’s most followed leader on 𝕏 with 6.3 million followers. He is followed by Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame with 3.3 and 3.1 million followers respectively. Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan is the only female African leader in the Top10 list with 1.6 million followers.

Most Followed Arab Leaders on 𝕏 2024

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates is the most followed Arab world leader with 11 million followers ahead of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud with 10.3 million followers.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Jordan’s King Abdullah II complete the list of the five most followed Arab leaders.

Most Followed East Asian Leaders on 𝕏 2024

In East Asia Indonesian President Joko Widodo leads the 𝕏 rankings with a whopping 20 million followers far ahead of his Asian colleagues, namely Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, and Bongbong Marcos, the President of the Philippines with 1.8 and 1.3 million followers each.

Singapore’s outgoing Premier Lee Hsien Loong is the fourth most followed East Asian leader and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has shot into fifth place with a strong growth of 19% in the past 12 months.

In their defence, 𝕏 is much less popular in Asia than Facebook for example.

Most Followed EU Leaders on 𝕏 2024

French President Emmanuel Macron is the EU’s most followed leader with close to 10 million followers.

He is followed by Polish Premier Donald Tusk and Polish President Andrzej Duda with 2.7 and 2.5 million followers respectively.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is in fourth place with 2.2 million followers and a very strong two-digit growth of 19% year-on-year.

Most Followed Latin American Leaders on 𝕏 2024

In Latin America many leaders still enjoy double digit growth on 𝕏.

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is the most followed Latin American leader with more than 10 million followers on the platform.

He is closely followed by Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro with 8.8 and 7.5 million followers each.

Noteworthy is the strong growth of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele who made it into fourth place with 6.1 million followers which is almost the total population of this Central American country.

Most Followed Foreign Ministers on 𝕏 2024

Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates has been the most followed foreign minister for almost a decade with almost five million followers.

India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has seen strong growth over the past year reaching more than 3.1 million followers.

Combining his institutional account @SecBlinken and his dormant @ABlinken account, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken lands in fourth place with 2.6 million followers.

The UK’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski make up the top 5 list of the most followed foreign ministers. Noteworthy is Germany’s Annalena Baerbock who makes it into the Top10 list with 723,000 followers.

Most Followed Foreign Ministries on 𝕏 2024

The U.S. State Department remains the most followed foreign ministry with close to 10 million followers on their multiple language accounts.

The Foreign Ministry of Saudi Arabia is in second place with 4.1 million followers. The Foreign Ministry of Israel which also manages the @Israel account has seen a 50% growth over the past year, a result of the Hamas attack on Southern Israel in October 2023.

The Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministries complete the top 5 list with 2.7 and 2.2 million followers respectively. Interestingly the Russian accounts have grown by 10% while Ukrainian followers have slightly declined.

@DigiTips maintains updated public lists on 𝕏 with world leaders, governments, and ministerial accounts worldwide. Get the full rankings of all 1,187 𝕏 accounts on Gumroad ($) and kindly let us know if we have missed anyone.

World Leaders on YouTube

YouTube is still the platform where governments and foreign ministries share the long-form videos of their leaders’ speeches. A handful of leaders are using the vertical-format YouTube Shorts to recycle their videos designed for Instagram and TikTok.

We have identified 460 YouTube channels of heads of state and government, foreign ministers, and their institutions. All channels combined have 63,651,666 subscribers and a median average of 4.225 subscribers per channel.

The median average growth of all channels stands at 13% year on year. 136 channels are inactive and haven’t posted any video in the past year and many of these have not created a custom URL either.

Most Followed World Leaders on YouTube 2024

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is by far the most followed world leader on YouTube with 25 million subscribers and more than 5.4 billion video views on his personal and institutional channels which have grown by 52% over the past twelve months.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is the second most subscribed world leader on YouTube with 4.3 million followed by Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo with close to 3.3 million subscribers. Narendra Modi has by far the most views of any world leader with 5.1 billion videos views on his 25,794 videos and an average of 200,583 views per video.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak get the most views per video with 434,677 and 359,319 average views respectively. No wonder Rishi Sunak’s personal YouTube channel has more than doubled its subscriber numbers.

Most Followed Foreign Ministries on YouTube 2024

With more than 400,000 subscribers the U.S. State Department is the most followed foreign ministry on YouTube.

The U.S. State Department airs its daily press briefings live on the platform and often clips interesting extracts as YouTube Shorts.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs has 389,000 followers on its two channels combined. The Russian Foreign Ministry is in third place with 365,000 subscribers.

Most of the large channels have seen a two-digit growth rate since May 2023.

Find the full rankings of all 540 YouTube channels on Gumroad ($).

World Leaders on WhatsApp

WhatsApp is the latest Meta-owned social network which is giving governments and their leaders a new platform to broadcast to their audiences. In September 2023 the popular messaging app opened public channels, inviting selected international organisations and governments to trial the new channel.

The early adopters, the governments of Brazil, Chile, Morocco, and Singapore have seen explosive growth on the new platform. As of May 1, 2024, the governments, and leaders of 24 countries are active on the platform.

The advantage for world leaders of the new broadcast channel is that users can only react to posts with emojis and don’t have the possibility to comment publicly on the posts. On the other hand, the platform allows for voice posts and polls seems to be working well.

Most Followed Governments on WhatsApp 2024

The government of Brazil (Governo do Brasil) is the most followed governmental channel with 3.2 million followers on WhatsApp.

The government and the presidency of South Africa are in second and third position and the Moroccan and Indian government channels complete the top 5 list with over half a million followers each.

Germany’s Federal Government (Bundesregierung) which launched its channel in mid-April 2024 had almost 80,000 followers by May 1, 2024.

Most Followed World Leaders on WhatsApp 2024

In April 2024 world leaders started to sign up to the new platform. Not surprisingly, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is currently campaigning for his re-election, has close to 14 million followers making him by far the most followed world leader on the platform.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is in second place with 222,000 followers, closely followed by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni with 186,000 followers.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen who is also vying for her re-election created a campaign channel which had only several hundred followers on May 1 but is growing daily.

DigiTips also has a public channel on WhatsApp. Click here if you want to become our first follower.

World Leaders on BeReal

BeReal is the latest social media platform to capture the attention of millions of teenagers around the world. The French-owned messaging app prompts users to post one picture a day if they want to see the posts from their friends and the public accounts they follow.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele was the first world leader to trial the playful app in June 2023. But it is the France’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal who has set up a public channel where he posts regular selfies, whenever he meets a crowd of youngsters or when meeting his Canadian counter part Justin Trudeau.

No other world leader has so far ventured on the platform, although it is probably one of the easiest platforms to use to reach a decidedly younger crowd.

World Leaders on BlueSky

BlueSky, a federated social network and a spin-off from the original Twitter and funded by Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey has recently opened its doors to large accounts. But so far governments have been reluctant to explore this emerging platform. Only the German government and the European Union are trialling the platform.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock set up an account in early October 2023 in the hope to connect with her peers, namely her Dutch counterpart, but so far, she remains the only world leader on BlueSky with close to 40,000 followers.

The German Foreign Ministry followed the next day not to let their boss alone. Both accounts have been dormant since January 2024.

The European Commission joined the platform in mid-December 2023 but despite their daily posts the account has only 1,300 followers.

World Leaders on Mastodon

Mastodon is a German-registered federated social network. No wonder therefore that Germany is the most active on the platform. The governments of the Netherlands, Switzerland and the European Union have also opened servers on the distributed platform.

The German @Bundesregierung (federal government) has set up its own server and ten of its ministries have accounts on the platform including the German Foreign Ministry, but the account has been dormant since the beginning of 2024.

The Swiss government is quite active through its former spokesperson. The Swiss Foreign Ministry has accounts in English and in German/French but they have been dormant since Christmas 2023.

The EU Commission is the most followed governmental institution on Mastodon with over 100,000 followers. While the Commission is quite active, the three EU commissioners who are on the platform are dormant. And finally, the Dutch government has also set up its own server to host the accounts of its ministries.

World Leaders on Snapchat

Only eight governments and world leaders have public profiles on Snapchat but most of them have been dormant for two or more years. French President Emmanuel Macron has 909,000 subscribers almost twice as many as Joe Biden with 469,000 subscribers. The French government counts 11,300 subscribers but has been inactive for almost two years.

Follower data for the channels of the @EU_Commission, the @StateDept, the @UKForeignOffice and the @WhiteHouse are not publicly available.

The U.S. State Department is occasionally active with a monthly post on the platform. The last post from the White House was on Valentine’s Day 2024 and the EU Commission only posted once, on April 30, 2024, to announce the EU Open Day four days later.

Three leaders have created their bespoke Snapchat bitmoji, namely El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, Finnish President Alex Stubb and French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal but it seems their accounts are inactive. All others only have the Snapchat QR code.

Given the minimal activity of these accounts Snapchat might not be the best channel to engage Generation-Z.

Footnote

For the following social media rankings, we used the total follower numbers as a benchmark, not because this is the most pertinent measure of influence on social media but simply because it’s the only metric that is publicly available on most platforms, except Snapchat and BeReal.

We used Audiense.com to gather data from 𝕏 and Crowdtangle.com to capture data for Facebook and Instagram. Data for all other platforms was collected manually on May 1, 2024. (That’s what we do on Labour Day). Since Crowdtangle will be deprecated in August 2024 we are grateful for any recommendations for other tools to capture data from social media platforms.

You can find the full DigiTips Social Media Rankings of personal and institutional accounts for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Telegram, Threads, TikTok, WhatsApp, 𝕏, and YouTube as well as Bluesky, Mastodon, and Snapchat on Gumroad for a small contribution of CHF19,95.

For more detailed interaction data or tips on how to improve your social media game feel free to contact us info@digitips.ch.

Matthias Lüfkens
@DigiTips
Geneva, Switzerland
May 13, 2024