DUBAI: Shaikh Mohammed tweets his way to world elite club

Amanda Fisher / 6 January 2013
Khaleej Times
Despite the comparatively small UAE population, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has emerged as a social media global powerhouse.

Shaikh Mohammed took out the 10^th position in a recent survey of global leaders’ Twitter popularity undertaken by the American think tank Digital Policy Council.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, US President Barack Obama romped home in pole position with a whopping 25 million followers, followed up by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, with 3.8 million, and Turkish President Abdullah Gul who has just over two million. Shaikh Mohammed has almost 1.4 million followers, 910,000 of which he picked up in 2012 alone.
Shabbir Adamji, the founder and CEO of Dubai social media promotion company Go Mad, said Shaikh Mohammed’s popularity was particularly impressive given the comparatively small UAE population.
“It is a surprise considering the fan following of various global politicians. It’s something probably to do with the vision he has that has helped his image and his fan followship to build up continuously. (He has become) like an icon.”
Adamji said Shaikh Mohammed was a model Twitter user, using the medium to avidly promote initiatives such as the recent Accession Day thanks campaign, where manual labourers were acknowledged on the seventh anniversary of Shaikh Mohammed’s rule.
“I’ve travelled to many countries but the way Shaikh Mohammed communicates with the community is really amazing, it really does help with building up a good environment.”
The Indian expatriate, who has lived in Dubai for 10 years, said Shaikh Mohammed’s frequent tweets, in both English and Arabic, were intended to keep the entire population informed.
“It gives me a sense of belonging. It tells me he really does want to communicate with expats...and that makes you feel more comfortable...you tend to respect him more and more.”
The research showed three quarters of leaders in 164 countries now have a Twitter presence, up 78 per cent from the year before, when just 69 heads of state had accounts. And the gulf from 2010 is even more dramatic, when just 33 leaders were on the social media tool.
Adamji said it was impressive so many leaders were on the medium, given most leaders, in their 50s or 60s, were not the “Internet generation”.
“(The increase) will continue for sure, but there will be a point where it will saturate, after 80 or 85 per cent because of countries in Africa, for example, where technology is not there...after that it will start to rise.”
He said the benefits in politicians using social media like Twitter were manifold.
“It’s a real time thing to get your message out to people, you don’t have to use any news channel, you don’t have to use any newspaper...it dissipates into the masses immediately. Be it some news about some new policy or your own feelings about something, the moment that is done it goes out to the masses.”
It also gave politicians control over their public profile, which was not subject to alteration by media or misinterpretation, while showcasing technological literacy and forward-thinking, he said.
But Adamji warned it was important for politicians to exercise caution as once something was in the Twittersphere, it was difficult to take back. He cited the case of an Indian minister who recently tweeted the suggestion of creating a new law under the name of the recent victim who died after a horrific gang rape, and came in for huge backlash as rape victims’ anonymity is sacrosanct in the country.
“They have to be very careful when they tweet out something because if you’re not careful about the sentiments of the people or the laws of the land, it might backfire in some way.”
The leaders in the Twitter top spots mostly hail from Latin American and Arabic countries, with Obama the only leader representing a Western country.
Adamji said the reasons for this could be tied to the large populations in Latin American countries, and the recent political upheavals in Arabic countries as a result of the Arab Spring.
“Social media is the way forward for anything and everything. There will be a time when you would have very few news channels that would be giving out news, everything will be so much in real time that social media will handle everything that is given out to the world. Social media is going to be the pillar for everything.”