Najib one of 25 most-connected world leaders on Twitter

July 28, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been listed as one of the 25 most connected world leaders on Twitter in a report published by Burson-Marsteller.

The recent published report titled “Twiplomacy” is the first-ever global study of world leaders on Twitter.

The report ranked US President Barack Obama as the most followed world leader on Twitter while Najib’s account is number two in Asia and number 17 in the world out of the 254 heads of government and state and institutions.

Najib is said to actively engage with his audience on Twitter. — File picIt also listed Najib as the sixth most popular world leader who “tweets properly”, coming in at number 30 out of 254 heads of state and government who actually do their own tweeting.

Najib started to tweet on September 23, 2008 and as of today he has 767,679 followers on Twitter with 2,675 tweets and 81 following.

This makes him by far the most popular national leader in Asia on Twitter per capita (1 in 37) and comfortably in the global top 10.

According to the report, Najib is also following a number of international and regional leaders and is mutually connected with @bluehousekorea, @karimmassimov_e and @number10gov.

The report also noted that Najib is an early adopter of Twitter.

“Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak actively engages with his audience. He tweets personally and engages his half a million followers with quizzes and sweepstakes.

“Seventeen percent of his tweets are conversational and include @replies,” said the report which is available on twiplomacy.com.

Last May, he hosted a breakfast with his 500,000th and three other Twitter followers.

The Twiplomacy report said he immortalised the event with a Twitpic and a YouTube video of his guests.

Najib uses technology to engage on a more personal level than has previously been typical in Southeast Asia, such as answering questions on his Facebook page and Twitter — both on an ongoing basis and in planned online Q&A sessions such as #TanyaNajib and the 1 Malaysia Roundtables, the report said.

He also hosts offline events with online friends around the country, which started through tea events at his official residence, Seri Perdana, which developed into meet-ups across the country.   

On the political and governmental levels, the prime minister also used social media to ask the public for suggestions and ideas for the 2013 Budget as well as input for the new National Harmony Act, which will replace the colonial era Sedition Act.

This follows an announcement by the government at the beginning of July that all departments and agencies must now seek public opinion before proposing draft amendments to existing laws or introducing new Bills.

A MyIdeas online platform was introduced for people to put forward their ideas, with the best ones being adopted into government policies. — Bernama