World Leaders on Instagram 2017
A picture is worth a thousand words, and world leaders have taken this to heart in adopting Instagram as part of their communications.
Over the past five years, governments and world leaders have flocked to the mobile photo and video sharing social network to share their official pictures with a worldwide audience. Government use of Instagram as a communications channel is particularly frequent in Europe, Middle East, Latin America and parts of Asia.
The heads of state and government, as well as foreign ministers of 140 countries, currently have personal and institutional accounts on Instagram, representing 72.5 percent of all 193 United Nations (UN) member states. One-hundred-eleven heads of state and government maintain personal profiles on the platform. On February 24, 2017, the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan (@AzerbaijanMFA) became the latest foreign ministry to set up an official Instagram account.
Instagram, which claims 600 million active monthly users, has an ever-increasing following — something world leaders and their advisors have not been slow to recognize.
Instagram is a platform dedicated to highly visual communication. Users can upload up to 10 pictures or videos in a single post, and can apply a range of different filters to their visuals as well as add an unlimited amount of text. The platform is primarily associated with more artistic shots, which allows followers to like and comment on posts. Unlike other platforms, the image, rather than the text, tells the story.
Since 2016, users have been able to post Instagram Stories which disappear after 24 hours and live videos which disappear immediately after the broadcast unless the user saves them to his or her mobile device. The visual nature of Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, makes it a perfect channel for leaders to address their constituents with engaging visuals.
As of April 1, 2017, the 325 accounts analyzed in this study, conducted by the global PR firm Burson-Marsteller, have a combined total of 48,705,021 followers and published 61,281 posts in the past 12 months which have garnered a total of 371,711,417 interactions (comments and shares).
Who is the Most Followed?
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the most followed world leader on Instagram with 6.8 million followers, closely followed by U.S. President Donald Trumpwith 6.3 million followers. Both leaders combined have fewer followers than former U.S. President Barack Obama who left office on January 20, 2017 and now has 13.8 million followers on his @BarackObama account.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has posted only 53 photos — 20 times less than the 1,028 posts posted by Donald Trump — but over the past 12 months, Modi has enjoyed a far better interaction rate, with 5.15 percent compared to Trump’s 3.39 percent.
Pope Francis, who started his Instagram journey on March 19, 2016, is in third position with 3.7 million followers, just ahead of the White House account with 3.4 million followers. Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo @Jokowi has seen a 673 percent growth of his followers over the past 12 months, putting him in fifth position. Queen Rania of Jordan; Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev; HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai; Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei complete the Top 10 list.
Trump leads the rankings in terms of total interactions (comments and likes). Over the past 12 months, @realDonaldTrump has garnered more than 114 million interactions. Surprisingly, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is in second position with 89 million interactions on his 1,423 posts, twice as many as Pope Francis with 45 million interactions.
Who is the Most Effective?
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also the most effective world leader on Instagram, with each of his posts receiving on average 223,000 interactions (comments and likes). Turkey’s President is in second position with 141,000 interactions and Pope Francis’ Instagram posts receive an average of 138,000 interactions. With 9.67 percent, the Turkish President has one of the highest interaction rates, which is the total number of interactions divided by the number of posts and the average number of followers over the past 12 months.
U.S. President Donald Trump has received 111,000 average interactions on his Instagram posts over the past 12 months, while Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is in fifth position with an average of 76,000 interactions on each of his posts. Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is in sixth position in terms of average interactions and has the second-best interaction rate 6.4 percent.
Over the past 12 months, Ayatollah Khamenei has garnered 89 million interactions on his 1,423 posts, behind Donald Trump with 114 million total interactions followed by Pope Francis with 45 million total interactions. Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, Queen Rania of Jordan, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai, complete the Top 10 list receiving more than 35,000 interactions per post.
Read the full study on Twiplomacy.com
