Shaikh Mohammed most 'liked' leader in GCC

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, is the most popular leader on Facebook in the Gulf Cooperation Council, with over 5 million "likes" on the platform, according to a new study by Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations and communications firm.

Shaikh Mohammed, who joined the social networking site in 2009, also ranks third in the list of the most followed leaders on Facebook from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). He has more than 11.4 million followers across a number of social networks including twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google +, is a pioneer in using social media platforms in the Arab world.

The study, World Leaders on Facebook, is Burson-Marsteller's latest research into how world leaders, governments and international organisations communicate via social media. Over the past eight years, Facebook has emerged as the platform of choice for world leaders and governments to engage with their constituents. According to the study, 169 of the 193 UN member states maintain an official Facebook page.

Across the MENA region, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has the most number of Facebook likes with 6 million, closely followed by Her Royal Highness Queen Rania of Jordan, an early adopter of social media with 5.5 million likes.

Worldwide, US President Barack Obama is the most popular world leader on Facebook with 46 million likes on his Barack Obama campaign page. President Obama is closely followed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with more than 31 million fans on his personal Narendra Modi page and 10.1 million fans on his institutional PMO India page, which is in third position.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi complete the top five list of the most popular world leaders on Facebook.

The study also found that 87 heads of state, 82 heads of government and 51 foreign ministers maintain personal pages on the platform. Additionally, as of 4 January 2016, the combined accumulated total of 'likes' from world leaders reached 230,489,257 and had published a total of 302,456 posts.