Nigeria

The @JGoodluckTweets Twitter account was started in July 2010, just days after opening a Facebook page designed to interact more with Nigerians. On 15 September of that same year he announced on his Facebook page that he had finally decided to run for the presidency, becoming the first sitting president to declare his re-election bid via social media. On Twitter he wrote: “The time for transformation is here. I commit to steering the country in the direction of sustainable change and development.” His tweets communicate his key beliefs that are against violence, to bring justice, and encourage patriotism. He emphasizes his vision for the nation that includes initiatives to create more jobs, tackle youth issues, education and overall national development. Engagement on his account is limited with no @replies and @mentions. The account went quiet on 10 May 2011 after the elections with a last message: “It is my sincere hope that the post-election violence panel will assess the cost of damage to personal and public properties and places of worship, investigate the personalities involved, the sources of weapons used in the unrest and make appropriate recommendations towards bringing the perpetrators to justice.”

President Goodluck Jonathan’s second Twitter account, billed as the “OFFICIAL” Twitter account was launched on 8 March 2011 coinciding with the launch of his “new website to allow you, my fellow Nigerians, to engage in dialogue about the future of Nigeria” The website http://goodluck.org.ng is no longer accessible and the Twitter stream stopped on 2 May 2011 with his “May Day Greetings to the Nigerian Worker”, which also became his most popular tweet, re-tweeted 19 times. His Facebook page is still active and continues to grow with over 725,000 likes.