Politicians and heads of states are increasingly using the social media platform to reach out to the big wide world. Yesterday, King Abdullah II of Jordan made his debut on to the twittersphere, following in the footsteps of his wife Queen Rania who is an avid tweeter.
The move went down very well with the public, and his royal highness has already gained a whopping 70K followers after less than 24 hours on the site. His first tweet was a self introduction as 'a father and a proud Jordanian' in Arabic, followed by the English translation.
هنا عبدالله بن الحسين. أب لأسرة وخادم وطن. بسم الله وعلى بركة الله
— عبدالله بن الحسين (@KingAbdullahII) March 26, 2017
This is Abdullah bin AlHussein, a father and a proud Jordanian. Pleased to be with you on Twitter
— عبدالله بن الحسين (@KingAbdullahII) March 26, 2017
Queen Rania, who currently has 6.18 million followers on twitter supported her husband with a tweet claiming that she was very proud to be King Abdullah's first follower, and praised him for his 'voice of moderation and calls for dialouge'.
يشرفني أن أكون أول متابعي @KingAbdullahII على #تويتر، فالعالم بأمس الحاجة الى رؤية سيدنا وصوته المعتدل https://t.co/za0kreaVTs
— Rania Al Abdullah (@QueenRania) March 26, 2017
Honored to be @KingAbdullahII’s 1st follower on @Twitter. Your voice of moderation and calls for dialogue is much needed in our world today https://t.co/helFb1xKj4
— Rania Al Abdullah (@QueenRania) March 26, 2017
As well as gaining solid support from his wife, the Jordanian people also took to twitter to welcome the King.
Proud to see our king joining the flock #الملك https://t.co/oSACl8hVh8
— Khaled ElAhmad (@Shusmo) March 26, 2017
I am very proud, God save you our great Majesty https://t.co/651OUK4CSm#الملك
— Ayman D Hunaiti (@aadahhaj) March 26, 2017
the fact that the king's cover picture is a picture of his family makes me proud and emo#الملك
— ٱلاء (@thatssoalaa) March 26, 2017
The King's entry into twitter is particularly timely, just ahead of the 2017 Arab Summit. The Arab Summit is a conference meeting for all 22 members of the Arab League in order to meet and discuss regional issues. This year the summit will be hosted by Jordan in the Dead Sea. Today, the foreign ministers preparatory meetings are taking place, paving the way for the reception of Arab leaders and heads of delegation tomorrow (Tuesday 28 March) and the Arab League Council meeting at Summit level on Wednesday (29 March).
SE