TWIPLOMACY 2022
World Organisation Power Ranking
Twiplomacy’s World Organisation Power Ranking lands at a turbulent moment in 21st century history.
The pandemic’s constantly shifting sands have now been joined by a war in Europe, turning global conversations on their axis once again. Global energy status quos are being challenged, inflation is rising rapidly and cost of living is skyrocketing. The ramifications seem set to spill over to touch every life on the planet, much like COVID-19 did in 2020. The permacrisis, a term coined in 2021 referring to volatility, uncertainty and a prolonged sense of emergency, seems even more apt in 2022.
With global emergencies, global solutions are called for and world organisations responding to these are finding new levels of digital influence. Twiplomacy’s 2022 World Organisation Power Ranking reveals the relative influence of global organisations in #DigitalDiplomacy, illuminating the power of international affairs conducted through digital channels. This vital snapshot captures the changes in digital influence brought about by the pandemic, and points to further shifts that will likely accompany the war in Ukraine.
Our latest ranking focuses on Twitter as a primary global platform for #DigitalDiplomacy, unrivalled for its ability to break and be news, and to drive debate and engagement with, about and between political actors. We also ground our new methodology in the open data provided by Twitter’s API, which enables us to effectively measure digital influence in this highly political context.
The WHO (1, @WHO) is undoubtedly a leader among world organisations with 1.5 times the influence of the second ranked UNICEF (2, @UNICEF). The WHO Twitter account has more followers than McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Walmart combined, and its enhanced influence as a result of the pandemic seems set to last into 2022.
The power of being a United Nations entity responding to global issues can also be seen throughout the top 10 with UNICEF (2, @UNICEF), UNESCO (3, @UNESCO), UNHCR (4, @Refugees), and UN Women (5, @UN_Women) completing the top five.
Within the top 10, economics, development and the environment also feature with the World Bank (6, @WorldBank), UN Development Programme UNDP (7, @UNDP) and UN Environment Programme UNEP (9, @UNEP). The European Commission (8, @EU_Commission) is the highest-ranked regional representative, with the African Union (22, @_AfricanUnion) the only other to appear in the top 25.
Top 5 Deep Dive
The Ranking
The new World Organisation Power Ranking includes all UN recognised organisations consisting of its own agencies and the intergovernmental organisations with a standing invitation from the UN to participate as observers.
TWIPLOMACY 2022
The algorithm
Twiplomacy’s new ranking algorithm has been designed to identify what influence is on Twitter among a particular list of handles. Given a specified time interval and list of Twitter handles, the algorithm assigns a tailored weighting to variables including mentions, tweets, retweets, reach, impressions, follower changes, likes and follower count. We display this as a rescaled composite score calculated for each handle within a 1-100 range.
With global emergencies, global solutions are called for and world organisations responding to these are finding new levels of digital influence.
Twiplomacy’s 2022 World Organisation Power Ranking reveals the relative influence of global organisations in #DigitalDiplomacy, illuminating the power of international affairs conducted through digital channels. This vital snapshot captures the changes in digital influence brought about by the pandemic, and points to further shifts that will likely accompany the war in Ukraine.
Designed by the BCW Data & Analytics Team for Europe and Africa, our new methodology allows us to uncover what influence is in digital diplomacy in 2022.
TWIPLOMACY 2022
Top 50 Power Ranking
The new World Organisation Power Ranking includes all UN recognised organisations consisting of its own agencies and the intergovernmental organisations with a standing invitation from the UN to participate as observers.
Metrics explained
Scale
Given a specified time interval and list of Twitter handles, the algorithm assigns a tailored weighting to variables including mentions, tweets, retweets, reach, impressions, follower changes, likes and follower count. We display this as a rescaled composite score calculated for each handle within a 1-100 range.
Factor
The ratio of the score of the organisation with the highest influence, divided by the score of the organisation with the lowest influence. Calculated prior to the rescaling, the factor indicates how many times more influential the top organisation
06
7x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
30
THE WORLD BANK
07
6x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
28
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)
08
6x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
23
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
09
5x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
20
UNITED NATION ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (UNEP)
10
5x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
20
JOINT UNITED NATIONS
PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS
11
4x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
18
THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF)
12
4x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
14
THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP)
13
4x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
14
WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)
14
3x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
13
INTERNATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY (IRENA)
15
3x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
12
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS (ICRC)
31
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
7
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (OECD)
32
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
7
EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH (CERN)
33
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
7
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT (EP)
34
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
7
INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTRE (ITC)
35
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
7
COUNCIL OF EUROPE (COE)
27
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
8
INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA)
26
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
8
THE WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANISATION
(WMO)
28
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
7
THE INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (IFAD)
29
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
7
UNITED NATIONS HUMAN SETTLEMENTS PROGRAMME (UN-HABITAT)
30
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
7
INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE EXPLORATION OF THE SEA (ICES)
20
3x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
9
AFRICAN UNION (AU)
22
3x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
9
UNITED NATIONS INSTITUTE FOR DISARMAMENT RESEARCH (UNIDIR)
23
3x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
9
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION (IOM)
24
3x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
8
GLOBAL FUND TO FIGHT AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS AND MALARIA (GFATM)
25
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
8
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (AFDB)
16
3x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
11
THE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION (FAO)
17
3x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
11
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY AND ELECTORAL ASSISTANCE (INT IDEA)
18
3x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
10
UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND (UNFPA)
19
3x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
10
UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE(UN-FCCC)
20
3x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
9
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES (IFRC)
36
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
6
CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY (CARICOM)
37
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
6
THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION (ILO)
38
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
6
IBERO-AMERICAN CONFERENCE
39
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
6
THE WORLD TOURISM ORGANIZATION (UNWTO)
40
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
6
INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION (IPU)
41
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
6
CENTRAL AMERICAN INTEGRATION SYSTEM (SICA)
42
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
6
LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN ECONOMIC SYSTEM (SELA)
43
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
6
THE UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION (UNIDO)
44
2x
FACTOR
SCALED (1-100)
5
UNITED NATIONS INSTITUTE FOR TRAINING AND RESEARCH (UNITAR)
45
2x
FACTOR
COMMONWEALTH
SCALED (1-100)
5
46
2x
FACTOR
INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC)
SCALED (1-100)
5
47
2x
FACTOR
INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (ICC)
SCALED (1-100)
5
48
2x
FACTOR
ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB)
SCALED (1-100)
5
49
2x
FACTOR
NEW DEVELOPMENT BANK (NDB)
SCALED (1-100)
5
50
2x
FACTOR
THE INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION (ITU)
SCALED (1-100)
5
LOOKING AHEAD
Conclusion
And yet it is not only crisis that has prompted a rally to global leadership. UN organisations driving long term societal change for the better such as UNICEF and UN Women have significant mobilisation power and, in some cases, a greater connection with their audience. As we look onwards, we may expect to see further changes in the power ranking this year. The World Bank (6, @WorldBank), IMF (11, @ IMFNews) and WTO (13, @WTO) are already important players but could become more so if the permacrisis moves towards recovery. Then their roles in the rebuild and response could come further into the spotlight, creating an opportunity to increase their social influence with an effective approach to digital diplomacy.
Likewise, we might also expect to see changes this year in the influence of the World Food Programme (12, @WFP), ICJ and European bodies. The WFP is already moving to address pressures in food supplies exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine, further complicated by rampantly rising inflation and burgeoning refugee crises. The ICJ and European bodies can be expected to receive a greater influence as the year progresses as the court probes alleged genocide in Ukraine and European bodies navigate the continent’s response from the war. How far such developments will affect the relative social influence of these accounts will depend on how effectively each organisation can leverage the changing dynamics of digital diplomacy.