Haiti

Michel Martelly opened his Twitter account in January 2010 at the start of his presidential election campaign. After winning the elections in April 2010 his team individually thanked over 200 of his followers with a personal @reply. The President doesn’t tweet himself and his account is connected to his Facebook page, automatically tweeting every new Facebook post. In March 2012, the President was facing allegations by certain members of the Parliament regarding the veracity of his nationality. Martelly’s message, in French Creole, after being cleared has become his most popular tweet: “I told him, and today I proved it. I am a native Haitian working for the people with a shaved head”.

Laurent Lamothe was appointed Prime Minister of Haiti on 4 May 2012 but his presence on Twitter goes back to August 2011, two months before becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs. His first tweet is a link to a document on Facebook regarding a rehabilitation programme for the victims of the Haiti 2010 earthquake. Lamothe’s team tweets in French, English and Creole and his account automatically follows all his followers. His account has a Twitter list with all his ministers on Twitter, which he frequently retweets and promotes with a #FollowFriday tweet. His tweet “Haiti is now amongst the 5 safest countries in the Caribbean. Please RT” has become his most popular tweet. Laurent Lamothe follows 16 other world leaders, none of which follows him back, apart from President Martelly.