Swiss consulting firm DigiTips published its findings for 2024 regarding social media popularity for governments. Israel's Foreign Ministry was ranked among the top three leading global accounts. The ministry's Instagram account was ranked first in terms of followers, its X account was ranked first in annual growth rate and third in terms of followers.
The Swiss consulting company publishes an annual social media index for government institutions worldwide. The index examines the accounts of 4,267 leaders, governments and foreign ministries throughout the year and is considered an expert on the international digital governmental world. The Foreign Ministry's Instagram accounts are ranked first in the world in terms of followers, with 1.7 million followers, followed by the U.S, India, Germany and Russia.
The Foreign Ministry's X account (formerly known as Twitter) is ranked third with nearly 3.5 million followers. The U.S. State Department tops the follower count with 9.8 million followers, followed by Saudi Arabia with 4.1 million followers. The report highlights Israel's significant annual growth rate of followers. For example, the growth rate of the Israeli Foreign Ministry's X account is ranked first with a 46% growth rate, much more than other foreign ministries. By comparison, the annual growth rate of the American follower number stands at only 1%.
The Foreign Ministry's growth rate in the number of Instagram followers also stands out, with a 148% increase compared to the previous year. By comparison, the American follower number increased by 2%, Germany by 44%, and France by 14%.
David Saranga, head of the Digital Division at the Foreign Ministry, said his ministry is fighting a war on three fronts. "In addition to the Gaza war, we are fighting an information war as well as a legal war, and all three are intertwined. The traditional media shaped the message in the past, but today the message is crafted on social media and then reaches the media. We at the Foreign Ministry will continue to fight our battle while finding ways to convey the Israeli message to the world."
Since October 7, the Foreign Ministry's social media accounts have posted over 32,000 posts and tweets, receiving over 4 billion views, in addition to thousands of other posts shared by Israeli diplomats worldwide, in over 50 languages. The Jerusalem-based ministry posts content in six languages and the popular accounts with the most views are English with 2.38 billion views, Persian with 745 million views, Arabic with 451 million views and Spanish with 336 million views.
At the top of the followers index in the leader category on X is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with 153 million followers. He is followed by U.S. President Joe Biden with 72 million followers, and in third place, the Pope with 53 million followers. On Facebook, Modi takes the lead again with 63 million followers, followed by Biden with 23 million followers and, after them, the presidents of Indonesia, Egypt and Turkey, each with around 10 million followers.
First published: 01:18, 05.17.24