PM Modi Is the ‘Most Liked World Leader’on Facebook: Study
With Modi having 43.2 million followers on Facebook, Donald Trump is in second place with 23.1 million followers.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most liked world leader and far ahead of others, including US President Donald Trump, when it comes to popularity on Facebook, according to a study which said 43.2 million people follow the Indian premier on the social media platform.
Trump, who rules the other social media platform Twitter, is in second place with 23.1 million followers, according to the study "World Leaders on Facebook" released on Wednesday, 2 May by Burson Cohn & Wolfe.
The study analyses the activity of 650 Facebook pages of heads of state and government and foreign ministers from 1 January, 2017 using aggregate data from Facebook's Crowdtangle tool, it said in a statement.
Over the past 14 months, the Facebook page of Trump had by far the most interactions of any world leader on Facebook, with a total of 204.9 million interactions (defined as the total number of comments, likes and shares), almost twice as many as Modi with 113.6 million interactions, the study said.
Modi, 67, has always encouraged use of social media platforms to stay in touch with the public.
The survey's findings were shared by Twiplomacy, which tracks and promotes digital diplomacy of world leaders. It said that Modi has the second highest number of interactions and interaction rate behind Trump.
Along with the Lingaraj temple photo, Modi wrote- "Prayed at the Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar. The magnificence of the Temple and Temple Complex leaves a lasting impression on the mind." Among videos, the third most popular Facebook live video was one shared by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from Modi's visit to the Jewish state in July last.
The survey said the PMO was also the fourth most checked-in destination, after the White House, the Ugandan Presidency and 10, Downing Street.
In the list of "Peer Connection of World Leaders", which counts the pages of world leaders liked by their counterparts, Modi is 10th, the survey said.
However, nine pages ahead of him are not personal pages of any world leader but of their offices. For instance, topping the list is the White House and other names include the US State Department, European Commission, UK's foreign office etc.
Indonesian President Widodo has 46 million interactions and Cambodia's Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen and Argentina's President Mauricio Macri follow with 36 and 33.4 million interactions, respectively.
The study found that 175, or 91 percent, of the 193 United Nations member states maintain an official Facebook page. In addition, 109 heads of state, 86 heads of government and 72 foreign ministers maintain personal pages on the platform.
Facebook has become the key platform for world leaders and governments to engage with voters, supporters and citizens. As of 15 March, 2018, all pages of world leaders combined had a total of 309.4 million followers. Since 1 January, 2017, they have published a total of 536,644 posts which have garnered close to 900 million interactions, it said.
The findings revealed that, while more than half of the posts have photos, world leaders are increasingly sharing videos and a handful are going live to talk directly to their constituents.
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