Twiplomacy 2020

Over the past four months the world as we know it has changed beyond recognition.

COVID-19 has thoroughly upended diplomacy, a profession which involves a fair amount of travel,

physical meetings and in-person interactions. The traditional work of world leaders and diplomats

has come to a sudden stop as travel restrictions, border closures and shelter-in-place orders have

scuppered in-person diplomatic activity.

As the novel coronavirus spread globally, leaders hunkered down at home, such as Canadian Prime

Minister Justin Trudeau who went into self-isolation after his wife tested positive for COVID-19. "I’ll

continue to work from home and conduct meetings via video & teleconference," he tweeted.

No more handshakes, hugs or accolades. No more physical meetings, bilateral summits or multi-

lateral gatherings. World leaders and diplomats had to adapt to working from home and have been

thrust into virtual meetings.

Diplomacy became truly digital. Within days most diplomatic activity moved online with leaders

facing each other off via their respective

computer screens. Bilateral and multilateral

meetings are now held via telephone or

videoconferencing apps, despite having had

some teething problems of open microphones

and slow internet connections.

The traditional family pictures of multilateral

meetings, such as the G7, G20 and the ASEAN

summits, have been replaced by a mosaic of

screens with leaders sitting in front of their respective flags.

World leaders were quick to use Twitter to communicate and explain lockdown rules, often using the

Twitter covers to encourage their followers to #StayHome, #StayAlert and #SaveLives. Many shared

guidance on strict hygiene protocols and demonstrated correct handwashing and observing social

distancing rules.

The verdict is out whether the diplomatic distancing measures have exacerbated ‘national

distancing’ as former UK Ambassador Tom Fletcher argued or whether leaders have actually come

closer together through direct and intimate video chats.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry used the lockdown to tweet beyond its traditional audience, reaching

millennials and Gen Z Twitter users. “The #CoronaVirus had a dramatic impact on the role of

#DigitalDiplomacy, which is now more important than ever before,” the Foreign Ministry tweeted.

“Without physical spaces, many use #socialmedia to “socialize” and we’re taking advantage of that

with engaging & relevant content that resonates with global audiences.”

The coronavirus has been a key catalyst for the

digitalisation of diplomacy. Leaders who only

half-heartedly embraced digital platforms are

now actively chatting via Google Meet, Skype

and Zoom calls and engaging their followers via

Periscope. Even Pope Francis joined a Skype

interview oddly staring down on his laptop.

Despite the timid resumption of in-person

meetings between masked foreign ministers,

there is little chance that bilateral and multi-

lateral will ever come back to normal. Many

large-scale diplomatic events such as the United

Nations General Assembly in late September

2020 and the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in January 2021 have already been

downscaled with large portions of the debate happening online rather than in-person.

Speaking online without a live audience is a challenge for many world leaders but the chance to pre-

record statements offers new opportunities for the leaders’ messages to be heard and seen beyond

the meeting room by a global online audience.

The BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe) Twiplomacy study 2020 focuses on

the how world leaders have tweeted during the coronavirus

pandemic and how Twitter has tried to keep the chatter clean from

disinformation.

According to the 2020 edition, the governments and leaders of 189

countries had an official presence on the social network,

representing 98 percent of the 193 UN member states. The

governments of only four countries do not have a Twitter presence,

namely Laos, North Korea, Sao Tome and Principe and

Turkmenistan.

The heads of state and government of 163 countries and 132 foreign ministers maintain personal

accounts on Twitter. As of June 1, 2020, all 1,089 personal and institutional Facebook pages of world

leaders had a combined total of more than 620 million followers and had posted 8.7 million tweets

since their creation.

Tweeting the Coronavirus

Not surprisingly the hashtags #coronavirus and

#COVID19 have dominated the Twitter feeds of

world leaders since early March 2020.

Philippine Foreign Minister Teddy Locsin Jr. was

the first to mention the virus in a tweet on

January 19, assuring that the Department of

Health and the Airport authorities are "on top of

this" adding that the "Last thing we can handle is

this kind of epidemic."

On January 22 the Indonesian government

announced the installation of thermo-scanners at

135 entrance points into the country.

A day later, on January 23 the Foreign Ministry

of Honduras shared the first infographic

indicating the symptoms of the novel

coronavirus and the hashtag #PrevenirEsVivir

(To prevent is to live)

In his Chinese New Year greetings, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif congratulated the Chinese

government for its “timely and decisive response, and the unanimous unity of the entire country, in

the fight against the new coronavirus infection pneumonia epidemic.”

In January U.S. President Donald Trump also praised China for their efforts to contain the virus and

thanked President Xi Jinping for the transparency.

As the death toll of the pandemic was rising

especially in Italy, Pope Francis prayed for those

suffering from the coronavirus as well as the

healthcare workers and the authorities trying to

contain the spread of the virus.

Worldwide tens of thousands expressed their

support for the healthcare workers by clapping

every evening at 20:00 such as the European Commission European Commission which shared the

clapping gif.

The President of Panama tweeted 140 clapping

emojis in honour of the healthcare workers.

Many other leaders used the emojis to express

their gratitude

towards the health

workers.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,

accompanied by their spouses, both came out clapping for healthcare workers.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been

leading the weekly #ClapForCarers in front of his

residence at 10 Downing Street.

On April 30 his clapping #ThankYouNHS had a

very special meaning as it came after his

discharge from hospital and the day after his

fiancée had given birth to a baby boy.

Boris Johnson has been one of a handful world

leaders who tested positive for coronavirus, and

in late March he announced that he was going

into self-isolation. In early April Boris Johnson’s

condition had worsened, and he was

hospitalized. He even spent several days in

intensive care, prompting his peers to send him

get well soon tweets.

Prince Albert II of Monaco, Armenia’s President

Nikol Pashinyan, Bolivia’s interim President

Jeanine Áñez, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro,

Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and

the Foreign Minister of Burkina-Faso Alpha Barry

were all diagnosed with COVID-19.

“The rumour has become reality... I have just

tested positive for COVID-19”, he tweeted.

Alpha Barry and a handful of other world leaders, including the King of Morocco Mohammed VI,

Chile’s President Sebastian Piñera, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi, and Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček updated their Twitter profile picture

wearing a face mask, a subtle way to lead by

example and encourage their followers to do the

same.

Others such as Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di

Maio have updated their cover picture.

While U.S. President Donald Trump has

consistently avoided to be photographed

wearing a facemask, First Lady Melania Trump

gladly modelled a cloth face covering including a

recommendation from the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention (CDC) to wear a face

mask.

The members of the White House coronavirus

task force started wearing face masks at their

meetings only a month later in mid-May and U.S.

President Donald Trump finally donned a mask

in public while visiting the Walter Reed military

hospital in mid-July.

The team of the President of Botswana

Mokgweetsi Masisi put together an engaging

video to encourage their citizens to wear a mask.

The government of Botswana also launched the

#BWMaskChallenge asking their followers to

share a selfie wearing a mask.

The South African Presidency encouraged

followers to show their support for the lockdown

measures by downloading and displaying a

Twibbon on their social media profiles

encouraging citizens to #StayHome and

#StaySafe. Even President Cyril Ramaphosa

added the Twibbon to his Twitter profile. At the

end of an address to the nation, Cyril Ramaphosa

asked his citizens to wear a face mask but visibly

struggled to put one on himself. However, he

took it in a stride, promising to teach people

how to put on a face mask.

Slovakia's President Zuzana Čaputová was

wearing a face mask, colour coordinated with

her dress, for the swearing in ceremony of the

new government led by Prime Minister Igor

Matovič who was also wearing a face mask.

Some world leaders have shared masked selfies

including Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier

Bettel who tweeted a selfie with his partner:

“Happy Europe Day, but with closed internal

borders, it’s not the EU we love G&X”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted

a masked selfie in front of a fountain in

Chernihiv, in an effort to promote tourism to the

northern Ukrainian city, "a real magnet for

tourists!"

Countless government organisations have also updated their Twitter covers spreading health and

safety advice on top of their profiles. The Irish government, the EU Commission, India's Press and

Information Bureau and the Vietnam Foreign Ministry added hashtags to their Twitter names

including #StayHome and #WeWillWinTogether as well as health warnings on their cover pictures.

The French government paid to promote the

hashtag #JeResteChezMoi (I stay at home)

among the top trending topics on Twitter to

encourage its citizens to stay in place.

Starting in early March leaders took to social

media to address the pandemic, encouraging

their citizens to wash hands and sneeze into

their elbows.

A handful of African

leaders, including

Rwanda’s Paul

Kagame, Senegal’s

Macky Sall, Ethiopia’s

Abiy Ahmed Ali,

Burundi’s Mokgweetsi

Masisi and Guinea’s

Kassory Fofana

participated in the safe

hands challenge. The

campaign, initiated by

Dr Tedros Adhanom

Ghebreyesus, the General Director of the WHO, was designed to show how thorough handwashing is

the most effective way to slow the spread of the coronavirus. These leaders also called out their

peers to set an example and record a video of themselves washing hands.

Several leaders offered a helping hand to

entertain citizens confined at home. Canadian

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a trained teacher,

offered to help parents and children with their

homework #CanadaHomeworkHelp. More than

6,500 people commented on his post and sent in

questions which the Prime Minister then asked

his cabinet members to answer.

Andorra’s Prime Minister Xavier Espot Zamora

explained to the young girls and boys that “we

have a secret weapon against the coronavirus

which is staying at home”

During the coronavirus lockdown world leaders

were able to show a more personal side on

social media and several of them offered a

glimpse into their private lives.

Albanian President Ilir Meta shared a video

mowing his lawn and wishing everyone a great

weekend.

Mark Brantley, the Foreign Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis produced a series of coronavirus curfew

cooking videos encouraging his citizens to stay at home and showing that #MenCanCook too.

Mark Brantley then showed off his physical condition doing push-ups to encourage his followers to

stay healthy at home.

The end of the Handshake

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen

asked Austrians to ditch the handshake and

adopt the "polite and friendly" Asian greeting to

avoid spreading the virus.

The @Israel Twitter account shared a fun short

video with several alternative ways to greet

including the foot shake.

Social Distancing Diplomacy

The former Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti

met with U.S. Ambassador to Philip Kosnett at a

safe and respectful distance.

As more than half of the world was confined

Pope Francis held an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi

blessing. Standing alone in the vast rain-battered

expanse of St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican he

prayed for an end to the COVID-19 coronavirus

pandemic.

On Good Friday Pope Francis celebrated the

Way of The Cross broadcast live on YouTube

with only a handful of followers all wearing face

masks in an empty St. Peter's Square.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella was also alone

with the guards of honour to commemorate the

75th anniversary of the Liberation of Italy on

April 25 in Rome.

Virtual Meetings

The European Council held its first informal

video conference on February 6 to discuss the

coronavirus outbreak.

On March 1 the leaders of CARICOM, the

Caribbean Community held an emergency

meeting via Zoom to discuss the impact of the

coronavirus in the region.

At the start of the first ever video conference of

the European Council, Council President Charles

Michel needed to remind all participants to

“Please, mute your microphone.” Most of the 27

participants shared pictures watching the

conference call on their video screens.

By mid-March world leaders were suddenly thrust into digital meetings and zoom calls. But there was

a clear digital divide between those using state of the art recording facilities and others simply using

their laptops.

The German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas held

his first video summit with his counterparts from

the Visegrád countries the Czech Republic,

Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia in a fully

equipped studio including live translations

booths.

The three Baltic Presidents simply used their

laptops to connect for the regular tripartite

summit. Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid

propped up her laptop on a shoe box which she

dubbed “Guerilla remote working!”

When Panama’s President Laurentino “Nito”

Cortizo chaired his first virtual cabinet meeting

he was looking at a single flat screen instead of

his ministers around the cabinet table.

When UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired

his “first ever digital cabinet” meeting on Zoom

he inadvertently shared a screenshot including

the conference ID.

The planned state visit of Georgian President

Salome Zourabichvili was replaced by a

telephone conversation with her Swiss

counterpart Simonetta Sommaruga. While the

Swiss President was pictured using a traditional

landline probably for security reasons, the

Georgian President simply used her mobile

phone.

New Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou met with her Estonian counterpart Kersti Kaljulaid in

an online video chat.

During their bilateral video meeting the President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian and the President of

Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili discussed the current challenges and “spoke about the life during and

after the coronavirus.”

The new Foreign Minister of Malaysia,

Hishammuddin Hussein, held a bilateral video

conference with his Saudi Arabian counterpart

HH Prince Faisal bin Farhan and shared the

video recording of the first couple of minutes on

Twitter.

One of the defining official acts a diplomat has

to perform is the presentation of the diplomatic

credentials, a highly codified ceremony in which

the ambassador hands over the letter of

credence from his government to the host

nation. Due to the pandemic the Foreign

Minister of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-

Zayani, received copies of credentials from a

number of ambassadors-designate via video

conference.

The Lithuanian mission filmed the moment Ambassador Edminas Bagdonas handed over the letter of

credence.

The G7 leaders of the most industrialized nations decided to hold an extraordinary video conference

in mid-March. Instead of the traditional family picture, the Japanese government shared a picture of

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looking at a screen with his counterparts.

Canadian Prime Minister took the G7 video call

from his home where he was self-confined after

the revelation that his wife had been diagnosed

with COVID-19.

At the end of March Saudi Arabia convened an

extraordinary G20 virtual summit to discuss the

coronavirus pandemic. The setup for online

summit was more professional with each leader

seated in front of a large flat screen. The

Chinese leadership probably won the contest for

the biggest room and the biggest video display.

Organizing large-scale, multi-lateral summits

online is a challenge to say the least. The

Estonian government, which held the presidency

of the UN Security Council in May, brought

representatives from 80 countries to the virtual

stage to share their contribution on

#LessonsForPeace, 75 years after the end of

World War II. The event using an event platform

developed in Estonia was widely hailed for its

flawless execution.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

single-handedly moderated a three-hour long

online Coronavirus Global Response pledging

event with live and recorded statements from

countless leaders pledging a total of €7.5 billion

(USD 8 billion) to ramp up work on vaccines,

diagnostics and treatment and to defeat the

virus.

By mid-May, Israeli diplomat Joshua Brook had

coined the term ‘Zoomplomacy’ as leaders

shared screen grabs and pictures of their online

meetings.

Obviously, video diplomacy didn’t happen

without some teething problems, as German

Chancellor Angela Merkel experienced on a

video link with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,

Director General of the World Health

Organisation when the audio connection was a

bit patchy.

By July world leaders had gotten used the virtual

meetings and the Presidents of the Andean

Community found a fun way to stage their

traditional family picture.

It has become new digital diplomacy etiquette to

warn all participants on a video conference

before capturing a screenshot so that everyone

can look their best.

The New Face of Diplomacy

At their first in-person meeting, German Foreign

Minister Heiko Maas and his Luxembourg

counterpart Jean Asselborn didn’t shake hands

but held a face mask as they met on the Mosel

River in Schengen to celebrate the reopening of

the borders.

When Heiko Maas met his Italian counterpart

Luigi Di Maio in Rome, both men were wearing

face masks and elbow bumping instead of

shaking hands.

This is the new face of socially distanced

diplomacy and the new normal.

At the first in-person meeting of the EU Foreign

Affairs Council since the coronavirus lockdown in

July ministers were wearing masks, some with

their national colours and none shook hands.

Remember handshake diplomacy?

The Foreign Ministry of the Dominican Republic

looked back nostalgically at how diplomacy was

conducted before the coronavirus pandemic,

collecting all pictures of Foreign Minister Miguel

Vargas shaking hands with his peers and visitors

just a few months ago.

Engaging the Media and the Public

Press conferences, the staple of any international meeting, have also gone online. Peter Stano, the

lead spokesperson for the European Union’s External Action Service, shared a picture of the empty

press conference room and the journalists calling in via video connection for the daily midday

briefing.

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness

started to use Zoom for media briefings, first

sharing the Zoom meeting link and then

restricting it to journalists only.

German and French leaders Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron held a virtual press conference

after their consultations via live video link-up from Berlin and Paris to brief reporters on the outcome

of their virtual meeting. However, the press conference streamed live on Periscope didn’t allow for

audience participation.

The UK government, on the other hand, has

repeatedly asked its followers to send in

questions for the daily coronavirus press briefing

encouraging direct two-way interaction with the

citizens via social media.

Boris Johnson has sat down to answer some of

these questions. In one of the first of these

People’s Prime Minister Question Time he was

asked to answer: "What shampoo do you use?"

Even Pope Francis agreed to join a Skype call

from his laptop to chat with Spanish journalist

Jordi Évole who asked him bluntly whether "In a

situation like this, even a Pope could doubt the

existence of God?" “Obviously”, the Pontiff

replied. “No one is exempt from existential

temptations.” Adding that “I have had my own crises of faith, and with the grace of God, I’ve resolved

them."

The @Israel Twitter account, managed by the

Israeli Foreign Ministry, conducted two epic

Twitter Q&A sessions during the lockdown

challenging its followers to “Ask Us Anything.”

The idea was “to lighten the mood and give our

followers an opportunity to think about

something else other than COVID19” said the

community manager behind the idea adding:

“We also understood that it would be beneficial

to take advantage of the fact that many people

are home and are looking for interesting and

entertaining content.”

The account manager didn’t dodge political

questions but replied with humour and a lot of

chutzpah when someone asked why Israel

couldn’t get along with Palestinians.

Some of the best replies from the @Israel Ask

Me Anything session are compiled in this Twitter

Moment.

“People don't expect a foreign ministry to answer

non-diplomacy related questions (especially using memes, emojis & pop culture references) and this

has resulted in us reaching many people outside our typical circles to share Israel's story in a non-

conventional way” the community manager reported.

The two sessions which were managed by one

person generated more than 1,100 replies,

10,000 engagements and 165,000 impressions.

The replies to the question whether to do this

again were mainly positive.

Fighting the Infodemic

As the virus spread across the globe so did disinformation on social networks and Twitter decided to

surface relevant and trusted sources on the platform.

By the end of January, Twitter had created

special coronavirus search prompts to direct

users to trusted and authoritative sources about

the novel coronavirus.

Twitter also decided to actively verify hundreds

of health experts, including health ministers

around the world as well as the entire WHO

senior management.

However, there are still many world leaders desperately waiting to be verified.

The President of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, who was recently verified on Instagram is still

waiting for his blue badge on Twitter.

The Czech Foreign Ministry publicly requested for

their accounts to be verified, a request which was

granted several months later but the personal

account of Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček is still

not verified.

Fighting Disinformation

In 2020 Twitter stepped up the fight against state-sponsored disinformation and misinformation. In

early January, Twitter suspended countless accounts related to the Venezuelan government for

violating Twitter's rules. Among the suspended accounts was @PresidencialVen, the presidential

account of Nicolas Maduro's administration with 1.1 million followers. The account, which had sent

more than 100,000 tweets since its creation in April 2010 was again suspended in March 2020 and

hasn't been reinstated yet.

In April, Venezuela's government created a new

Twitter account for the presidential

administration @PresidenciaVE. In mid-March,

the personal account of Venezuela’s Vice

President Delcy Rodríguez @DrodriguezVen,

which boasted more than 500,000 followers,

was also suspended and her institutional

account @ViceVenezuela was restricted for

unusual activity. She has since created a new account @drodriven2.

On March 22, Twitter went a step further and

simply deleted a tweet from Nicolás Maduro’s

Twitter account. The president of Venezuela had

shared a series of links to articles pointing to a

supposed coronavirus remedy which included

mixing lemon grass, elderberry, ginger, black

pepper, lemons and honey.

Twitter also flagged two misleading tweets from

the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s deputy

spokesperson Lijian Zhao who alleged that the

coronavirus originated in the U.S. Both tweets

were tagged, prompting users to «Get the facts

about COVID-19» linking to reputable sources.

U.S. and Chinese diplomats have repeatedly

clashed over the origin of the COVID19 virus, a

war of words which was fought out in plain sight

on Twitter. The Chinese Foreign Ministry

spokesperson tweeted a video statement

explaining that "Confirmed cases of #COVID19

were first found in China, but its origin is not

necessarily in China. We are still tracing the

origin." In retaliation U.S. Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo repeatedly referred to COVID19 as the #WuhanVirus which didn’t help to appease the

tensions.

Over the past six months Chinese ambassadors

and embassies have set up accounts on social

media channels including Twitter which is still

banned in mainland China. At the same time

Chinese diplomats have become much more

assertive, openly attacking the U.S.

administration on its home turf.

When State Department Spokeswoman Morgan

Ortagus criticised the Chinese Communist Party

for having broken its promises to the people of

Hong Kong with the new national security law,

her Chinese counterpart Hua Chunying tweeted

back: "I can't breathe" echoing the last words of

George Floyd who was killed by a police officer

in Minneapolis.

These kind of digital diplomacy broadsides are a

clear indication of the current state of the

Chinese-U.S. relations. It is also interesting to

note that neither @MFA_China nor

@SpokespersonCHN follow any of the U.S.

government accounts but they do follow the

Russian and Iranian foreign ministries on Twitter.

Twitter’s fight against misleading information on

its platform culminated when two tweets from

Donald Trump alleging mail-in ballots would lead

to fraud were flagged for fact checking. The U.S.

President immediately retaliated by signing an executive order aiming to remove some of the legal

protections social media platforms enjoy.

In his Twitter reaction, Donald Trump accused

the social network of interfering in the 2020

presidential elections and stifling free speech.

The tit-for-tat between Donald Trump and

Twitter found its apogee when Twitter flagged

one of Donald Trump’s tweets for “glorifying

violence.”

The tweet which quoted the sentence coined by

Miami police chief Walter Headley in 1967:

"When the looting starts, the shooting starts" was not deleted but hidden from the public’s view.

When the White House shared the identical

tweet several hours later it was immediately

flagged and hidden by Twitter but not the tweet

shared the White House Digital Director Dan

Scavino who had put the quote on a picture.

Liking and commenting on the hidden tweet has

been disabled.

The decisive action by Twitter was a stark

reminder to government officials and world leaders that they are not free to post incendiary tweets

and that the health of the network is paramount.

Most Followed World Leaders on Twitter

Donald Trump is still the most followed world leader with more than 81 million followers and

counting. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi moves into second position ahead of Pope Francis

who has 51 million followers on his nine different language accounts.

How does @realDonaldTrump keep his momentum on Twitter?

In his own words, he has an army of "Keyboard

Warriors" liking, retweeting and amplifying his

messages, far better than any ad agency could

do, according to the president.

The U.S. President’s followers have grown by a

third year on year, while Pope Francis followers only increased by a mere 6 percent and Queen Rania

of Jordan has seen her follower count stagnating at 10.4 million.

The official account of the President of the

United States @POTUS grew by 17 percent to

over 30 million followers, which is surprising

since the account merely retweets tweets from

Donald Trump’s personal account and amplifies

selected tweets from the White House account.

Most Effective World Leaders

on Twitter

U.S. President Donald Trump is the most effective world leader on Twitter since each one of his

tweets garners on average 24,000 retweets which is slightly better than Saudi King Salman who

garners 23,573 retweets per tweet.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro and Pope Francis also stand out since they have an exceptionally

good retweet per follower ratios with their messages reaching well beyond their followers.

True Reach of World Leaders on Twitter

However, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi leads the rankings in terms of true reach as

calculated by Klear.com. Modi reaches on average 40 million followers or 70 percent of his followers

with his tweets, twice as many as Donald Trump who only reaches an audience of 20 million or a

quarter of his followers.

Most Listed World Leaders on Twitter

Twitter lists have recently seen a comeback as Twitter is shifting the focus on interest-based

conversations. Being featured on a Twitter list also indicates how authoritative an account is.

The @realDonaldTrump account appears on 114,000 Twitter lists ahead of the emergency account of

the Japanese government @Kantei_Saigai which was set up in the wake of the Tōhoku earthquake

and tsunami in March 2011.

Most Active World Leaders on Twitter

The Presidency of El Salvador is the most active organisation, sending more than 100 tweets per day.

The governments of Guatemala and the Foreign Ministry of Venezuela are not far behind with more

than 90 tweets per day.

The Foreign Minister of the Philippines, Teddy Locsin Jr., the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele

and the Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Janša are the three most active world leaders, posting on

average more than 60 tweets per day.

Most Conversational World Leaders on Twitter

The @Hello_Sarkar (Hello Government) Twitter account set up by the Nepalese government is the

most conversational governmental account, with 96 percent of its past 3,200 tweets directly replying

question from Twitter users. The Dutch @Rijksoverheid and the @GOVUK accounts are also designed

to reply mainly to questions from Twitter users.

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Félix Tshisekedi, the

President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, also use their Twitter feeds mainly to chat publicly

with their fans and followers

Best-Connected World Leaders on Twitter

The Icelandic Foreign Ministry tops the ranking of the best-connected foreign ministries with 147

mutual peer connections on Twitter. In second place with 145 connections are the European External

Action Service (@EU_eeas), the UK Foreign Office and the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Mutual connections are literally priceless and a good indicator of the state of mutual relations.

The White House is the most followed institution, followed by 315 heads of state and government

and foreign ministers. The @POTUS account is in second place with 264 peer connections, slightly

ahead of the @realDonaldTrump account which is followed by 261 world leaders.

Donald Trump follows only 46 other Twitter users, mainly his family members, the Trump

organisation, its hotels and golf courses and a range of FOX TV hosts. However, Donald Trump

doesn't follow any foreign leader and recently unfollowed the only foreigner he had been following,

Piers Morgan, presenter of ITV breakfast show who had criticized the U.S. President for lacking

leadership in his handling of the coronavirus crisis.

The State Department is the fourth most

followed institution, followed by 222 world

leaders, however it is not among the best

connected mutually following only 59 other

leaders.

The @StateDept account no longer follows

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign

Minister Javad Zarif which speaks volumes about

the state to the U.S.-Iranian relations.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently

engaged in a Twitter spat with Iranian Foreign

Minister Zarif after he had criticised the U.S. for

being racist. "Some don't think

#BlackLivesMatter," Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted. "To those of us who do: it is long

overdue for the entire world to wage war against racism. Time for a #WorldAgainstRacism." "The U.S.

government is squandering its citizens' resources, whether its adventurism in Asia, Africa, or Latin

America...," Zarif tweeted based on a press statement that Pompeo issued after street protests in

Iran in 2018, but with some of the words changed.

Coronavirus Emergency Repatriation

The pandemic has kept foreign ministries busy

as they organized the repatriation of their

citizens stranded abroad. More than 590,000

people have been flown back to the European

Union alone. Many foreign offices and

diplomatic missions shared pictures of their

citizens about to board charter flights from

around the world.

Foreign ministries activated their crisis centres

such as the South African and German foreign

ministries. During the height of the repatriation

the German Foreign Ministry received 38,000

comments and messages on social media which

is five times as many compared to the previous

month. The Swiss Foreign Ministry reported

more than 10,000 calls, 18,000 e-mails and

numerous messages on social media.

The Belgian Foreign Ministry and several others

documented their repatriation campaign in

video and shared it on Twitter.

The social media manager of the Belgian Foreign

Ministry, Laurens Soenen tweeted having posted

500 social media posts, answering more than

1,000 questions per day which resulted in

15,000 new followers and 2 million unique

impressions over the past two months all the

while working from home.

The digital manager at the UK Foreign Office Jack Pearson shared a glimpse of the “Foreign Office

digital operation” consisting of two laptops a mobile phone on his kitchen table.

Most Followed Arab Leaders on Twitter

Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan is still the most followed leader in the Arab world, with

10,441,750 followers as of June 1, 2020. However, her account has almost stagnated year on year

and Sheikh Mohammed, the Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, is in a close second with

10,285,642. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman is in third position with 8,387,104 followers.

Most Followed Sub-Saharan African Leaders on Twitter

Muhammadu Buhari, the president or Nigeria, is by far the most followed Sub-Saharan African leader

with 3,121,169 followers ahead of Paul Kagame the president of Rwanda with 1,910,159 followers.

Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, has seen the biggest growth over the past year more

than doubling his followers reaching 1,386,849.

Most Followed EU Leaders on Twitter

French President Emmanuel Macron is the most followed EU leader, with 5,293,346 followers as of

June 1, 2020 ahead of his institutional account for the Elysée Palace with 2,492,468 followers.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is in third position with 1,405,481. The French and the Spanish

leaders have seen their followers grow by a third year-on-year.

Most Followed Latin American Leaders on Twitter

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador is Latin America’s most followed leader, with

7,098,711 followers ahead of Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro with 6,625,551 followers. Venezuela’s

President Nicolás Maduro is in third position with 3,814,896 followers. Nayib Bukele, the president of

El Salvador and Iván Duque, the president of Colombia, have seen the strongest growth year on year

both doubling their follower numbers.

Most Followed Foreign Ministries on Twitter

The U.S. State Department is by far the most followed foreign ministry, with 5,843,040 followers on

Twitter. The foreign ministry of Saudi Arabia and the foreign ministry of India complete the top three

with 2,708,727 and 1,461,097 followers respectively.

Most Followed Foreign Ministers on Twitter

UAE’s Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the most followed foreign minister, with 4,660,798

followers, ahead of Pakistan’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi with 3,110,444 and Mike Pompeo in third

position with 1,938,027 followers.

The U.S. Secretary of State has almost tripled his follower count year on year and Ernesto Araújo, the

foreign minister of Brazil was able to double his follower count.

About this Study

The Twiplomacy Study is BCW’s latest research into how world leaders, governments and

international organizations communicate via social media.

For the eighth edition of the report, BCW has identified a total of 1,089 Twitter accounts of heads of

state and government and foreign ministers, 632 of which have been verified by Twitter and carry a

blue verification mark.

Data was collected on May 1 and June 1, 2020, using Twitonomy.com, Audiense.com and Klear.com

to capture the true reach for accounts.

A PDF of the entire study is available here and the full Twiplomacy data set can be downloaded here.

Feel free to contact us for more detailed explanations and analysis.

July 2020