Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta most popular in Sub Saharan Africa

In the report titled “World Leaders on Facebook” seen by P Live Kenya, President Uhuru, who has 2.95 million followers, is closely trailed by the newly elected Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo, and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, who have 1.34 million and 700,000 followers respectively.

However, the top two most active world leaders on Facebook are Ethiopia’s and Botswana’s presidents, says the pollster PR firm Burson-Marsteller.

The Facebook page of the government of Ethiopia is the most active page, with an average of 29 posts per day in 2016. The government of Botswana is almost as active, with 28 posts per day respectively.

The Presidency in Uganda is the second most visited institution on Facebook (mobile check-in’s) and the Presidency in Ivory Coast is the fifth most visited.

More than 34,000 Facebook users have “checked in” at the State House in Uganda. The presidential pages of Ivory Coast and South Africa have seen more than 10,000 mobile check-ins each.

Worldwide perspective

Indian Prime Minister is the most followed on Facebook worldwide, his followers amounting to 40 Million followed by US President Donald J. Trump, who has 21 million followers on his personal page.

"When he came to power on January 20, 2017, Trump brought with him a Facebook page with nearly 20 million followers, by far the most of any newly installed world leader and a number which grew 400 percent during the course of 2016," the poll states.

Trump had 290 million interactions on his Facebook posts last year, including 33 million shares and 30 million comments.

On the other hand, Modi had the most interactions (likes, comments, and shares) of any world leader on Facebook in 2016.

With 169 million interactions, Modi’s activity far outpaces the second-placed world leader, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, who had 58 million interactions.

The now archived @ObamaWhiteHouse page is in third place with 36 million interactions, followed by Argentine President Mauricio Macri with just under 36 million.

The personal page of Barack Obama completes the top five list, with 30 million interactions for 2016.

Interestingly, Obama, who was until recently the most followed world leader on Facebook with 52 million followers, has one of the lowest interaction rates at only 0.15 per cent.

Almost 90 per cent of all national governments have an official Facebook presence.

World Leaders on Facebook is Burson-Marsteller's latest research into how world leaders, governments and international organisations communicate via social media.

The research builds on Burson-Marsteller’s highly acclaimed annual Twiplomacy study, which is now in its fifth year. In 2016, the Twiplomacy study was expanded to cover all key social media platforms and has massively enhanced Burson-Marsteller’s digital reputation worldwide.

You may read the whole report here