Buhari leading other African presidents on social media

President Muhammadu Buhari has only been in office
for a little over two weeks, yet he is already bringing
some changes to Africa via social media.
Many people may have known about the Twitter
experience of the President. What they do not know is
that he is also an active user of Instagram, a platform
that is rarely considered for political engagement.
Within a short period of being on Instagram, Buhari is
already followed by 33,000 people and he has 146
posts to his credit.
While the President takes to Instagram to post his
activities in a pictorial form, many Nigerians have
started taking him to task on campaign promises that
he made through the channel. Job creation and
electricity top the list of requests that the people have
presented to him.
What remains is for Buhari to take his conversations
with thousands of Nigerians who like, share their
experiences with him and comment on his posts to a
personal level.
In terms of number (of channels) and following on
Twitter, he is already many steps ahead of many
African leaders, many of whom joined the social media
buzz several years before he did.
For instance, Buhari is ahead of President Jacob Zuma
of South Africa in social media rating. Zuma, who leads
a country that is more Internet-active than Nigeria, is
not on Instagram. There is no verifiable account on this
networking site that is registered in his name. More so,
his sole channel – Twitter page – is followed by
382,000 other users after over four years of existence.
Comparably, Buhari’s personal Twitter page, which is
relatively new, is followed by 308,000 people and his
official handle, @NGRPresident, has 47,600 followers.
On Facebook, the President has garnered 119,188
followers even though the account is less than a year
old. In addition, there is a functional personal website
to complement the activities of the social media
platforms.
Also, Buhari may have commenced the long-expected
institutionalisation of the social media as a key
communication channel. This is another aspect of the
change that he is bringing into the use of social
networks among African leaders.
While he runs a personal Twitter account, the President
has launched an official page that is dedicated to his
office. Both of them are verified and distinctly branded
in terms of profile photographs and biography. This is a
practice no other African leader has embraced yet.
Buhari is, no doubt, doing something quite uncommon
among African leaders. The only exception is President
Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya who is equally very active
online.
Even then, Internet-savvy Kenyatta is not Buhari’s
match in terms of Instagram following. While the latter
is followed by 33,000 on the photo-centric forum, his
Kenya counterpart, whose page could not however be
verified, has 984 followers.
For a leader that has exceeded what many people
regard as the Internet age limit, Buhari’s new media
reach has endeared him to the online community, who
keep coming to his social networks to share and make
demands.
The President may have long recognised the benefits of
being active online and this explains why he singled out
social media from other ‘soft areas’ for a mention
during his inaugural speech.
Meanwhile, Buhari’s spokespersons, Femi Adesina and
Garba Shehu, are still engaging the public through
unverified accounts.
Adesina is tweeting on @FemiAdesina while Shehu
tweets on @GarShehu.