President Ruto Named Africa’s Most Influential Leader on Twitter in 2022

President Ruto has been ranked the most influential African leader on Twitter in 2022 and 13th globally, according to a new report from communications agency BCW Global.

The 2022 Twiplomacy World Leader Power Ranking shows Ruto, who has over 5.6 million followers on Twitter, climbed nine places to become Africa’s most influential leader on the social media platform this year.

Ruto, who assumed power in September 2022, was also named the third most influential newly elected leader on Twitter by the agency, which has been tracking the growth of Digital Diplomacy since 2012.

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni were ranked second and third most influential leaders on the continent. Their international ranks are positions 18th and 29th respectively.

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most influential world leader on Twitter ahead of United States President Joe Biden and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoan. 

Former British prime minister Liz Truss is currently in first place among female world leaders followed Sanna Marin, the Prime Minister of Finland.

"Twiplomacy’s new ranking algorithm has been designed to identify what influence is on Twitter among a particular list of handles. Given a specified time interval and list of Twitter handles, the algorithm assigns a tailored weighting to variables including mentions, tweets, retweets, reach, impressions, follower changes, likes and follower count," the agency said in a press release.

"It then applied additional variables such as gender, age, length of time in office and others to further contextualise, compare and understand influence factors in the ranking. The top three bring together big personalities, geopolitical clout, and a strong domestic following – all factors that determine a world leader’s influence on the platform."

Other factors that determine a leader's success on the microblogging site include quick reaction times, authenticity and a sense of flair and humor.

BCW Global said the most powerful world leaders are those with large personalities who use Twitter as a direct channel of communication with their audiences and influencers.