ISLAMABAD: As leaders around the globe are seeking to be present on social media to reach their supporters directly, a ranking by a multinational communications agency shows the most powerful Twitter user this year was King Salman of Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan was fifth on the list of the 50 most influential leaders on Twitter in 2019 by public relations and communications agency Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BWC).

In the Twitter diplomacy (Twiplomacy) ranking, social media influence was measured by the average number of retweets a post has received.

No politician on the list is even close to the Saudi ruler, whose each tweet was forwarded 231,000 times on average. US President Donald Trump was second with 21,000 reposts, followed by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with 9,000. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and the Pakistani primer both received 6,000 retweets per post.  

Social media platforms have been increasingly used by politicians to reach supporters and voters directly, bypassing journalists and traditional news outlets. This approach appeals mostly to the younger, tech-savvy generation, and has proven successful in several recent elections around the world.

According to BWC’s Twiplomacy website, data for the ranking was collected on Sept. 29, covering the publications of each account over the past 12 months.