Two Indians have broken into the list of top ten leaders in the world with the most Twitter followers. With almost 20 million followers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ranks third worldwide in the list and with 5 million followers, Sushma Swaraj ranks 10th, according to a study. Swaraj is the most followed female leader in the world.
Barak Obama tops the list with 75 million people and Pope Francis comes in second with almost 29 million followers. The 4th spot is also occupied by Narendra Modi with @PMOIndia account that has 11 million followers. Jordan's Queen Raina is the second most followed female leader with 4.7 million followers.
Both Modi and Swaraj's account have seen tremendous growth over the past year, with their follower count having doubled in this period. However, the study says that Obama's account is the most engaging as he repeatedly posts videos and GIFs.
On an average, a Modi tweet is re-tweeted 1602 times. His tweet "India has won!" after his victory in the 2014 general elections has raked in almost 84,000 re-tweets, the highest for him.
India has won! भारत की विजय। अच्छे दिन आने वाले हैं।
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 16, 2014
Notably, hashtag #PresidentMukherjee about Pranab Mukherjee is one of the most used hashtags in the political sphere. Recently, Facebook announced that Modi is the second most liked leader on the social network behind Obama. Modi's photos with his mother has been his most popular post on Facebook.
Disclaimer: The survey counts the leaders only holding a post in their respective country's cabinets or authorities.