How @narendramodi Redefined the Way Indian PM Interacts With Masses

New Delhi: With over 30 million followers on Twitter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the world’s most popular political leader on Twitter, after the exit of Barack Obama. While the most followed person on Twitter continues to be Katy Perry, with over 98 million followers, PM Modi is the only Indian politician to make it to the list of top 50 users.

US President Donald Trump has a follower base of 30.3 million while @POTUS counts at 17.9 million at present. Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan is the only other Indian user to feature in this list, with close to 27 million followers.

PM Modi's fan base on Twitter has grown more than seven times since the start of 2014. “PM Modi’s winning Tweet, "India has won! भारत की विजय। अच्छे दिन आने वाले हैं।”was the golden Tweet of 2014. Since then, it’s been phenomenal to see PM Modi and his senior cabinet members leverage Twitter to engage with the public in India,” said Mahima Kaul, head of public policy, Twitter India.

As per the data provided by Twitter, users are talking more about India, and of course PM Modi, on its platform. “Mentions of the word "India" and “Modi”on Twitter have been increasing every year since May 2014,” the microblogging platform said.

Daily mentions of the word “India” on Twitter increased from 53 million on a particular date—26 May 2014—to 74.4 million on May 26 this year. However, the year-on-year increase is less when compared to 67 million on the same day (May 26) in 2016.

“Over the past three years, PM Modi’s followers on Twitter have grown more than seven times to 29.9 million today, which makes him one of the most followed political leaders in the world. Whether it’s a nation-critical announcement, launch of digital innovation or simply live conversation with the general public, Twitter has served as an important outreach platform for the government,” added Kaul.

Last year in December, the external affairs ministry had launched a new service called Twitter Seva to offer timely, transparent and large-scale response to citizens' tweets in real time. The Twitter Seva service is supported by 198 Twitter accounts of Indian missions abroad and 29 regional passport offices. Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the UP police are also using the service. More government departments are expected join Twitter Seva soon.

“The launch of Twitter Seva, an India-first public service innovation has been a clear signal from the government on its Digital India commitment, adopted by various ministries to engage with citizens, gather public feedback and provide real-time response,” said Kaul.

Top 10 tweets by PM Modi: