Twitter is preferred network for diplomacy

NEW YORK – Over the past five years, Twitter has become the ultimate channel for digital diplomacy for world leaders and governments.

It is the prime social network used by heads of state and governments in 173 countries, representing 90 percent of all United Nations (UN) member states, according to Burson-Marsteller’s Twiplomacy study, an annual global survey of world leaders on social media.

Facebook is the second-most used social platform by world leaders, with 169 governments having set up official pages. However, leaders have on average twice as many followers on their Facebook pages as followers on Twitter.

Other platforms

YouTube ranks third among social sharing platforms, used by 78 percent of all UN member states, ahead of Instagram, which is used by 70 percent. While Twitter communication is mainly text-based including visuals, Instagram is picture-driven with minimal text and more behind-the-scenes pictures.

Governments with larger social media teams also have been exploring more visual communications with Vine and Snapchat, both of which target a younger audience of millennials.

Governments that do not have full broadcasting capabilities, mainly in Latin America, are embracing Periscope and Facebook Live to broadcast their press conferences.

The 2016 edition of Twiplomacy, which previously focused solely on Twitter, has been expanded to examine the use of other social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and more niche digital diplomacy platforms such as Snapchat, LinkedIn, Google+, Periscope and Vine. The Twiplomacy website includes live rankings and the first ever social media atlas for each country studied.

“Our Twiplomacy study shows people in positions of power are increasingly tapping social media platforms to connect with the audiences most important to them,” said Don Baer, worldwide chair and CEO at Burson-Marsteller. “As engagement becomes one of the critical measures of social media influence, our Twiplomacy study shows which political communicators are most successful on which social platforms and what we can learn from them.”

This final installment of Twiplomacy 2016 provides lessons for communicators on creating successful social media accounts and driving online engagement.

Based on combining data from the different profiles with an in-depth analyses of the content, the most notable findings include the importance of being visual and creative, tailoring content to the specific platform, projecting a human face and timeliness.

Engaged

The world leaders using social media with the most success are US President Barack Obama and his White House team, Argentinian President Mauricio Macri and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, among others found in the study.

“This cross-platform study shows that world leaders are increasingly taking an integrated approach across several social media channels, an indication of where more and more business leaders are likely to move as well,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa and global chief strategy officer.

“We are seeing that world leaders are allowing people to ‘meet’ the personality behind the official title – and that today, much more than words, creative or personal images get messages across most powerfully, a tactic that corporate leaders can use just as effectively.”