From sports stars to fashion models, and politicians to the national airline, Ethiopians and Eritreans are taking to Twitter to make their personal statements. There a huge difference between the No. 10 placeholder and the No. 1 in terms of followers. Here are the 10 most popular Twitter accounts in Ethiopia according to the website SocialBakers.com, which collates social media statistics.
Sources: SocialBakers.com, Twitter
The Ethiopian branch of the non profit is No. 10 on our list with around 4,800 followers. Tweets include:
When girls are allowed to be girls, we all do better. Help end child marriage http://t.co/Rzsj5reRaN #GirlSummit pic.twitter.com/HaBsgdcM4Y
— UNICEF Ethiopia (@UNICEFEthiopia) July 16, 2014
Calling himself a Ethiopian coffee lover, media freedom advocate and doctoral student, this handle based in Addis Ababa and Eugene, Oregon, is the ninth most followed Ethiopian on Twitter with 5,290 followers. Here’s a recent tweet:
Haile Gebrselassie never liked journalists because they always ask him about his worst-kept secret -his age http://t.co/q0vszjrsGA
— endalk2006 (@endalk2006) August 27, 2014
The national airline is No. 8 on the list with around 5,600 followers. Tweets address industry news and customer communication issues like this:
@silvermayer As we haven’t received any message from your end ,kindly send us your email address, so that we can contact you.
— Ethiopian Airlines (@flyethiopian) August 28, 2014
With 6,960 or so followers the self described human rights activist, editor and lawyer is the seventh most followed person in Ethiopia. His tweets include:
#Ethiopia I just listened to a song that says: “If loving you is wrong, I don’t wanna be right”. I dedicate… http://t.co/G59Ep6Ma24
— Daniel Berhane (@daniel_berhane) August 27, 2014
Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister hasn’t sent out a tweet from this account since 2011 – in fact he’s only tweeted four times total – but he still manages to be the sixth most followed Ethiopian on Twitter with more than 7,200 followers (including the BBC Africa). Here was his last tweet:
RT @tekeste: RT @MelesZenawi: RT @ECA_OFFICIAL: watch H.E @MelesZenawi speech ’11 African Economic Conference http://t.co/TqqhEohC
— Hailemariam Desalegn (@HailemariamD) November 9, 2011
The Twitter handle for the Ethiopian video website has some 9,580 followers and uses Twitter to promote its website.
There is a huge jump in followers from the No. 5 to No. 4 placeholders on this list. In fourth place, with 20,500 plus followers, the model, actress, mother and activist has the only verified account in Ethiopia. She recently accepted the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in this tweet:
Guess I accept @proenzaschouler Lazarro’s #icebucketchallenge #als I nominate #HaiderAckermann… http://t.co/1FvtaXkY2x
— liyakebede (@liyakebede) August 28, 2014
And there’s another huge leap between third and fourth place: Africa Union has more than double the followers with 56,700 plus folks reading their tweets. The organization, based out of Addis Ababa, operates with a mandate to promote an “integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa.” Here’s a recent tweet:
#AU sets up Mission against #Ebola #outbreak, to deploy military doctors, nurses…to affected c’tries: http://t.co/lEW74mrwxD
— African Union (@_AfricanUnion) August 22, 2014
Tweeting under the handle @ayfaraho, the Al Jazeera news anchor, who is “proudly Eritrean” has 91,500 plus followers and tweets in both English and Arabic:
“@amirahoweidy: Ahmed Seif el-Islam, leading light of Egypt human rights, has died by @PatrickKingsley http://t.co/UUk3G2LJFJ”
— عثمان آي فرح (@ayfaraho) August 27, 2014
With more than 103,000 followers the Olympic gold medalist in long distance track and road running is the most popular Ethiopian on Twitter. He doesn’t tweet all that often — his last message was back in July when Germany won the final match in the 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer competition:
Thanks @adidasrunning! And congratulations to Germany, we all love the never give up mentality of the Germans! pic.twitter.com/Yzm4nNISGD
— Haile Gebrselassie (@HaileGebr) July 16, 2014