Dubai’s Ruler Ranks 7 Among World Leaders Using Twitter

Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has been ranked seventh among world leaders using Twitter, according to an annual ranking conducted by The Digital Policy Council.

Sheikh Mohammed, also the UAE’s PM and vice president, jumped up three spots from the 2012 ranking, and currently has over 2.4 million followers.

His account grew by one million in one year, and he also saw the greatest movement of those who had been in the Top 10 in 2012, the report said. He held the 10th place in the previous ranking.

“His Twitter presence is punctuated by his eagerness to express his opinion and comment on both regional and global issues, as well as his openness to the world’s different cultures,” the report said.

“Upon reaching the milestone of two million followers in 2013, Sheikh Mohammed thanked and praised them for their active participation in discussions that have contributed to past social and humanitarian campaigns launched in the UAE,” it added.

In December 2013, Sheikh Mohammed, via Twitter, asked “every man, woman and child to join us in the biggest ever national brainstorm session to find new ideas for health and education.”

He announced the hashtag #uaebrainstorm for citizens to tweet to as they submitted their ideas.

More recently, he also held a week-long campaign with the hashtag “#ThankYou_Khalifa” which received a huge response in the UAE.

Overall, the report said that a total of 133 world leaders out of 167 countries had accounts on Twitter set up in their personal name or through an official government office in 2013, a growth of eight per cent over 2012.

US President Barack Obama again maintained the top spot of all world leaders, with 40 million followers, adding 16 million followers in one year. He was followed by the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Turkish President Abdullah Gul of Turkey.

Jordan’s Queen Rania, the first woman on the list, ranked fourth after growing her account by 500,000 followers.

“As one of the most influential women in the Middle East, in 2013 she continued to use her Twitter presence to promote cross-cultural dialogue and foster greater understanding and tolerance,” the report said.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev round off the top five.