Our very own PM Narendra Modi has the most interactive fans on the dorm-room-to-IPO social networking giant Facebook, according to a study conducted by communications firm Burson-Marsteller.
With over 200 million interactions with his followers, Narendra Modi is ahead of the US President Barack Obama. The US President, whose tenure will draw to a close next year, is the most ‘liked’ figure on Facebook, followed by Narendra Modi.
Barack Obama with more than 46 million likes is ahead of Narendra Modi, who leads the world’s second most populous country. Narendra Modi with 31 million fans takes the title of the second most liked world leader. Interestingly, third spot is again — virtually occupied by Modi — considering that the PMO India’s official Facebook handle sits there.
Barack Obama first joined Facebook in 2007, and ever since then his popularity amongst global citizens has risen considerably. He also has the top three most popular posts to his credit. These include the Happy Easter message with 2.9 million likes at number one. At number two is Narendra Modi’s welcome to India post to Barack Obama. At number three is his picture with wife, Michelle Obama on their anniversary.
According to Burson-Marsteller, world leaders have realised the potential of the social networking platform and maintain their personal pages to interact with their fans. The study reports that 87 heads of state, 82 heads of government and 51 foreign ministers have their own pages on the social network. On Facebook one can find the official page of 169 countries of the world.
The study pointed out,
The Governments of only 24 countries have not yet established a presence on Facebook, including China, where the social network is banned and Switzerland, where the former president briefly set up a personal page in 2013 before deactivating it four months later.
Combined, the total number of likes received by the world leaders amounts to 230,489,257. These world leaders, through pictures, videos and content have published close to 302,456 posts on their timeline according to the study.
Donald A. Baer, CEO, Burson-Marsteller, said,
There is a great deal corporations, NGOs and other sectors can learn from the ways governments and their leaders use Facebook. By showing their human side, they are creating a closer relationship with their citizens.
Narendra Modi is followed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, as the most liked world leaders on Facebook.
For the study Burson-Marsteller took into account about 512 official Facebook pages of the 169 governments. The data constituted is for the year 2015, stated the communications firm.
Over the past eight years, Facebook has become the channel of choice for community engagement with world leaders. Since then, a Facebook presence has become part and parcel of any social media political campaign and one of the best ways to engage with potential voters and citizens.
