DigiTips🧞 #DigitalDiplomacy @DigiTips

Why are so few World Leaders on Threads? Threads is the social network world leaders forgot. Three years after its launch, only 245 accounts of heads of state and government, foreign ministers and their institutions are active on Meta's microblogging platform, up from 210 a year ago and 191 in 2024. That is barely a third of the 753 leader accounts on Instagram, even though setting up a Threads profile requires little more than a tap from an existing Instagram account. Their combined following of 21 million, with a median of 11,462 followers per account, amounts to just 4% of the leaders' half-billion-strong Instagram audience. The maths of the platform is sobering: the median Threads account attracts just 13.5% of its owner's Instagram audience. Leaders bring their verified handle, their content pipeline and their name recognition to the new platform, and six out of seven of their Instagram followers stay behind. Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the undisputed champion of Threads with 3.1 million followers (+10%), converting an above-average 22% of his Instagram audience. It is no accident: Brazil is Threads' second-largest market with some 36 million users. El Salvador's Nayib Bukele follows with 2.2 million and the strongest growth in the Top 10 (+46%), ahead of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy (2.1 million, +13%). Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (987,000), and Italy's Giorgia Meloni the EU’s most followed leader (695,000, +35%) complete the Top 5 list. More striking is who is not on the list: six of the ten most followed leaders on Instagram have no Threads presence at all. Narendra Modi, Donald Trump and the entire White House apparatus, Prabowo Subianto, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Pope Leo XIV and King Charles III are all absent, as are Emmanuel Macron, Javier Milei and India's President Droupadi Murmu. The paradox is greatest for Modi: the most followed world leader on Instagram has never posted on Threads, even though India is the platform's largest market with more than 50 million users. Their absence is, in large part, of Meta's own making. In February 2024, Meta announced that Instagram and Threads would no longer proactively recommend political content, which users had to actively opt in to see. For politicians, a network whose algorithm was designed to keep their content away from new audiences held little appeal, and Meta only reversed the policy in January 2025, conceding that its approach had been too blunt. Threads was effectively closed for political business during the exact window when world leaders were deciding whether to adopt it. Donald Trump is a case apart: the US President co-owns his own network, Truth Social, where he is contractually bound to post first, and was banned from Meta's platforms between 2021 and 2023. For everyone else the calculus was simply unfavourable: X still holds the diplomatic and journalistic audience that leaders want for their text statements, while Threads offered a fraction of an audience they already had elsewhere, for a parallel content workload. The result is a platform of abandoned storefronts. 95 of the 245 accounts, or 39%, are dormant or inactive. Many leaders set up shop in the early days, posted a few times, and quietly walked away. And yet, no one is losing followers: the median account grew by 23% year-on-year, the strongest growth rate of any network in this study, and only a single account registered a decline. Threads followers accumulate whether leaders post or not. There are signs the calculus is changing. Threads reached 500 million monthly active users in June 2026 and overtook X in daily active users in late 2025, closing in on its rival's estimated 550 million monthly users. Since political content returned to the recommendation algorithms, the early adopters are being rewarded: the European Commission (371,000, +83%) and Ursula von der Leyen (242,000, +114%) retain over 31% of their Instagram audiences on Threads, the best conversion rates of any Western institution, and the fastest-growing account in the entire dataset is the presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo (+137%). Egypt's presidency has even achieved the rarest feat: its Threads following is double its Instagram audience, the only major account where the newcomer beats the incumbent. For the holdouts, the network they forgot may soon be too big to ignore. All figures are as of 1 May 2026. Download the full DigiTips Social Media Ranking and Digital Atlas ➡️🔗luefkens.gumroad.com/l/DigiTipsSoci… #DigitalDiplomacy Comment, Like, Share and Follow @DigiTips for the next instalment of World Leaders on LinkedIn.

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Modi breaks the 100-million-follower barrier on Instagram Instagram is the third biggest platform for world leaders with 481,169,294 followers combined on the 753 accounts of heads of state and government, foreign ministers and their institutions, up from 700 accounts a year ago. The typical @Instagram audience remains smaller than on @Facebook, with a median of 29,108 followers per account against 80,000 on Facebook, but the picture network is growing faster, with a median follower growth of 17% year-on-year compared to 15% on Facebook. Eleven leaders keep private Instagram accounts, and 22 accounts are dormant or inactive. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the first world leader to break the 100-million barrier on Instagram with almost 102 million followers on his personal @NarendraModi account (+8%). His Instagram audience is almost twice the size of his Facebook page. US President Donald Trump has a combined following of 63 million on his personal @realdonaldtrump account, which grew by a third to 44 million, and the institutional @POTUS account with 19 million. The @WhiteHouse account registered one of the strongest growth rates of any institution, up 43% to 12 million followers. Instagram is Volodymyr Zelenskyy's network of choice. With 16 million followers, the Ukrainian President is the third most followed leader on the platform, almost five times his Facebook audience. Indonesia's @Prabowo Subianto (15 million) is the only leader in the Top 10 losing followers (-1%), ahead of Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (14.6 million, +9%). Pope Leo XIV attracted 13.3 million followers on the new @Pontifex account within his first year in office, instantly making him the seventh most followed world leader, whereas he has no personal presence on Facebook. El Salvador's @NayibBukele (11.9 million, +19%) and Türkiye's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (11.7 million) follow, ahead of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (9.1 million). Argentina's Javier Milei comes in eleventh spot, with 6,433,202 followers, fewer than 30,000 ahead of French President @EmmanuelMacron (6,405,925). European leaders may trail in absolute numbers, but they are posting the strongest growth on the platform. Emmanuel Macron remains the most followed EU leader, up 44% year-on-year, just ahead of Italy's @GiorgiaMeloni who grew 59% to 6 million followers. German Chancellor @_FriedrichMerz reached 3.2 million followers combined on his personal account and the institutional @Bundeskanzler account (+57%). Spain's Pedro Sánchez more than tripled his following to 1.6 million. Collaboration is key. Many leaders have started collaborationswith their friends and peers or their institutional accounts to reach a wider audience as the posts appear on up to five profiles. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi took the now historic ‘Melodi’ selfie during COP28 in 2023. Their most recent video collaboration in late May 2026 has generated more than 290 million views and 13 million interactions on Instagram alone and helped boost the Italian Prime Minister who is the most followed female leader on Instagram. According to Donald Trump, Giorgia Meloni begged him for a photo at the G7 Summit in Evian in June 2026, a claim she has categorically denied. The exchange deepened the rift between the two politicians. India's President Droupadi Murmu, whose @PresidentOfIndia account grew 28% to 5.8 million followers is the second most followed female leader ahead of Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum (3.1 million, +32%), and Tanzania's Samia Suluhu Hassan (3.1 million, +12%). Japan's Prime Minister @Takaichi_Sanae completes the female Top 5 with 1.3 million followers on Instagram, almost eight times her Facebook audience. Geographically, Instagram is the mirror image of Facebook. Asian leaders and governments dominate with 213 million followers on 172 accounts, 44% of the total. Europe fields the most accounts of any continent, 245, but they total only 105 million followers. Africa, which has the most pages on Facebook, is Instagram's blind spot: its 162 accounts muster just 20 million followers combined with a median of 7,472. Latin American presidents, by contrast, have the largest typical audiences: with a median of more than 100,000 followers per account, South America tops all continents. As on Facebook, personal accounts beat institutional ones: the 323 personal accounts hold 380 million followers, 79% of the total, compared with 87 million followers on the 408 institutional accounts. Foreign ministers barely register on the picture network. The 102 personal accounts of foreign ministers have a median of only 6,689 followers. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the most followed foreign minister with 5.6 million followers combined across his personal (2.5 million), Secretary (2.1 million) and senatorial accounts. He more than tripled his following in a year, the strongest growth of any foreign minister, ahead of India's Subrahmanyam Jaishankar with 3.5 million followers (+37%). All figures are as of 1 May 2026. Download the full DigiTips Social Media Ranking and Digital Atlas. ➡️🔗luefkens.gumroad.com/l/DigiTipsSoci… #DigitalDiplomacy

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x.com/i/article/2075…

Sad news😢 X is planning to shut down the community feature - including this community - because of low usage. Follow @DigitTips where we will try to keep the spirit of #DigitalDiplomacy alive as we release the annual social media ranking in early May. techcrunch.com/2026/04/23/x-i…

We asked @Grok which of these female leaders were the most influential. Most Influential Female Leaders on the X List Based on the analysis of the list (which appears to be a curated collection of female world leaders, including presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, and heads of international organizations), the most influential are ranked below by their estimated X follower counts. Influence is assessed primarily by follower count as a metric of reach and visibility, supplemented by their leadership positions and engagement levels on recent posts. Grok's Ranking 1️⃣ Droupadi Murmu, President of India, @rashtrapatibhvn 📊28,033,379 Official account for the President of India; highest follower count in the list, reflecting India's large population and global influence. Recent posts show high engagement (e.g., 597 likes, 132k views). 2️⃣ Christine @Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank @ECB 📊879,236 Key figure in global finance; strong international presence with consistent engagement on economic topics. 3️⃣ @AminaJMohammed, Deputy Secretary-General @UN 📊494,718 Prominent in sustainable development and global policy; posts often focus on gender equality and SDGs, with solid engagement. 4️⃣ @RobertaMetsola, President of the European Parliament,@EP_President 📊461,559 Leads EU legislative body; high visibility in European politics, with posts garnering significant likes (e.g., 109 likes, 2.8k views). 5️⃣ Helen @HMcEntee, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ireland 📊61,052 Active in EU and international affairs; recent posts on consular support show practical leadership impact. 6️⃣ Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, President of Namibia @SWAPOPRESIDENT 📊21,446 African leader with focus on regional issues; lower follower count but significant in global south politics. 7️⃣ @Jenniffer González, Governor of Puerto Rico, 📊137,827 U.S. territorial leader; active in local and U.S. politics, with verified campaign presence. This ranking is based on available data from recent posts and public sources. Other notable members (e.g., @Takaichi_Sanae, Prime Minister of Japan; @Claudiashein, President of Mexico; @DelcyRodriguezv, Acting President of Venezuela) likely have high influence due to their positions. If follower counts are used as a proxy for influence, the top spots are dominated by heads of state and international organizations with broad global appeal. The list emphasizes women in high-level leadership roles across continents. ➡️Follow @DigiTips for more insights on global digital leaders.

Happy International Women's Day! Time to follow the female world leaders.⬇️ x.com/i/lists/135163…

Have we reached peak Davos? 👀 Watch the full conversation of Matthias @Luefkens with @HubCulture's @EdieLush on YouTube youtu.be/7NIpZ1im4P0 #WEF #Davos

World Leaders, heads of state, foreign ministers and leaders of international organisations #WEF26 in #Davos. #DigitalDiplomacy x.com/i/lists/147171…

Cordial échange bilatéral avec @EmmanuelMacron 🇫🇷 lors de cette journée inaugurale du #WEF26. Nous avons évoqué les défis organisationnels de la prochaine réunion du G7 à Évian. Sur l'acier, j'ai plaidé pour que la 🇨🇭 soit exclue des mesures de l'UE, comme les membres de l'EEE.

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@UN @WHO @wef @UNHumanRights @WorldBank @UNESCO @WWF @Dante_Licona @KuzmanovicA The most followed leaders of international organizations: 1⃣ @wto Director General @NOIweala 2⃣ @UN Secretary General @antonioguterres 3⃣ @WHO Director General @DrTedros #UNGA

X is still the social media channel of choice for most international organizations. However, half of the organizations have seen their followers decline over the past 12 months.

The DigiTips ranking of International Organizations on Social Media is out. digitips.ch/international-…

Who are the most followed World Leaders on X? Download the full @DigiTips Social Media Rankings 2025 including 4,426 social media accounts of governments and leaders on social media. ➡️🔗 luefkens.gumroad.com/l/DigiTipsSoci… #DigitalDiplomacy

@XTS1674865 @Pontifex @Pontifex_ar @Pontifex_de @Pontifex_es @Pontifex_fr @Pontifex_it @Pontifex_ln @Pontifex_pl @Pontifex_pt @Pontifex266Arch @HolySeePress Yes, it’s the global language. However, under Pope Francis the Spanish account ended up with slightly more followers than the English one.

The Pope is back on 𝕏 Leo XIV is starting from zero in nine languages. #FF @Pontifex @Pontifex_ar @Pontifex_de @Pontifex_es @Pontifex_fr @Pontifex_it @Pontifex_ln @Pontifex_pl @Pontifex_pt The accounts of Pope Francis accounts have been archived at @Pontifex266Arch🕸️

Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex

a year ago

Peace be with you all! This is the first greeting spoken by the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd. I would like this greeting of peace to resound in your hearts, in your families, and among all people, wherever they may be, in every nation and throughout the world.

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@Jpmillernerd @Pontifex @Pontifex_ar @Pontifex_de @Pontifex_es @Pontifex_fr @Pontifex_it @Pontifex_ln @Pontifex_pl @Pontifex_pt @Pontifex266Arch @HolySeePress Please refresh, they are currently transferring the followers from the previous account...

@Jpmillernerd @Pontifex @Pontifex_ar @Pontifex_de @Pontifex_es @Pontifex_fr @Pontifex_it @Pontifex_ln @Pontifex_pl @Pontifex_pt @Pontifex266Arch @HolySeePress The English one is @Pontifex