Twitter bird. Photo: wiki commons.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Twitter footprint improved in 2012, but it still lags behind other leaders in the region. According to a report released last month by the Digital Policy Council (DPC) that ranked all 123 heads of state with Twitter accounts, Netanyahu jumped three places, from #31 to #28. U.S. President Barack Obama took the top place, and among those in the Middle East Queen Rania was #4, while Mohamed Morsi was #15. Turkey’s President, Abdullah Gul, was #3 on the list, while the Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ranked #10.

The report took several factors into account to achieve its rankings including number of followers the account had and Klout score.

According to the report 75%, or three out of four heads of state, used Twitter in 2012. A total of 123 world leaders out of 164 countries had accounts on Twitter set up in their personal name or through an official government office. Compare this to only 69 out of 164 countries using the social media site in 2011.

Israel has become much more involved with the world of social media in the past year. In an end of the year list, CNN ranked the IDF’s use of Twitter during its November conflict with Hamas as one of its top Tech stories of 2012. Also in December, Israel announced plans to launch a public diplomacy department in Arabic which would focus on outreach to the Arab-speaking world, with a major emphasis on communicating through social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.