African Presidents on Twitter

Twitter, the microblog phenomenon used for transmitting short snappy messages in less than 140 characters and interspersed with so-called hashtags, is now a sensation in Africa. African Presidents Tweet, that is true, and they are doing it so often.

You might think it would be the average citizen commanding the most followers and tweets, but leading African presidents are the ones who’ve taken to tweeting in order to engage citizens about what the government is doing.

“As Twitter usage continues to expand in Africa, presidents and politicians in the continent are leveraging the unique power of the micro-blogging site to disseminate their political agendas, instantly communicate with a vast majority of people, recruit citizens to help in their campaigns, and create a space for dialogue and participatory democracy,” reported Sahan Journal, an African-powered social news website.

South African president Jacob Zuma and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta are tweeting the most and have the largest number of followers. Before he was ousted by the Egyptian military, former president, Mohammad Morsi also commanded a huge following.

The Kenyan website Mwakilish lists “The 10 Most Followed African Presidents on Twitter.”

Read more here..