by Martina Pennisi
During the war in Ukraine, the advance of Zelensky and Musk and the snapshot of all the profiles of international leaders. Esposito (DeRev): “It is the social platform chosen as the main channel for updates and dialogue about the conflict”
This article was originally published in Corriere Login, Corriere’s monthly magazine on technology and innovation, available free with the newspaper on newsstands today (Monday 28 March).
Twitter has found its antiTrump. His good hero. Its (re)generation of conversations and positive followers. His passepartout for the evening news and the openings of websites and print publications doesn’t seem destined to boomerang like the former President of the United States.
Twitter is alive again.
The good hero is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who in the aftermath of the February 24 Russian invasion saw his following grow by more than four and a half million (the days analyzed are from February 15 to March 6). It’s unlikely that among those 4,544,956 will be a significant number of new subscribers to the social network, which historically is struggling to grow and currently has 217 million monetizable daily users we’ll have to wait for the first quarter of 2022 to find out, while the stock is up 13% over the last month but Zelensky’s contribution is already clear.
Supported by his Minister for Digital Transformation and Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, the Ukrainian President “choose Twitter as the main channel for communication with citizens and especially with the rest of the world, although his presence and that of his ministers on the platform was almost dead before the war didn’t exist,” said Roberto Esposito, CEO of digital strategy and social communications firm DeRev, who analyzed the data for Corriere Login.
So: Like Trump, who tweeted and incited international politics and markets the tweet with which he attacked Toyota in 2017 cost the carmaker $1.2 billion in market value in five minutes Zelensky has brought the blue social media center (back) to the media scene. And the tones aren’t just the inflammatory and violent ones that led to the tycoon’s account being shut down following the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.
On the contrary, as Esposito explains, Ukrainian leaders have used Twitter to “converse with their foreign counterparts, taking advantage of the public nature and high circulation of tweets that encourage direct questioning to put them before their Pushing followers and forcing them into an “unfiltered response.
The numbers also confirm the success of the strategy: all characters involved in the exchange are seeing sustained growth in followers. Starting with Elon Musk, who responded to Fedorov’s appeal and provided Ukraine with the satellites of his Starlink system for connectivity and coordination of drone attacks: between February 15 and March 6, he gained 3 million followers, a growth of 4% compared to + 2% in the previous period (15 January 6 February). US President Joe Biden grew by 1.5 million followers, +8.5% with a difference of +86% over the previous period, and one of his most engaged tweets is the one related to the American ban on oil and gas imports from Russia.
The official profile of Russian President Vladimir Putin also benefits from the social debate, spreading updates from the Kremlin in English: +582,000 followers (+56% since February 15, a +2,600% difference compared to the previous period). “However, the increase in Putin supporters should in no way be interpreted as an endorsement of Russia’s military action, but solely as increased interest on the part of those who wish to keep abreast of the new Kremlin communications (mainly media, journalists, etc.). to work worldwide), so much so that the Russianspeaking account, aimed at the citizens of the country, has recorded a much more modest growth of + 3.7% (it is also worth considering the blocking of Twitter in Russia from 4 , ed.) »underlines Esposito.
Steady curve for the other top performers: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (+37% and 2,500%), French President Emmanuel Macron (+3.4% and +337%), British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (+6 , 5% and +623%), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (+0.94% and +55%) and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (+25% and +386%).
Esposito continues: “The metrics collected undoubtedly confirm that Twitter is the social platform chosen by all interlocutors involved as the main channel for updates and dialogue on the RussiaUkraine conflict; Consequently, this has sparked very strong growth in all accounts from political leaders and public figures, resulting in a breath of fresh air for the platform, which has been in a free fall for the past year, further accelerated by the Trump disaster .
In short, the former US President had reinvigorated the platform and then helped plunge it into yet another period of uncertainty in its (limping) history. Zelensky is the good hero who made it newsworthy again and confirmed its usefulness for political and institutional communication. A battle in the war, won.
March 28, 2022 (change March 28, 2022 | 12:30)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED