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Which Central Bank Has the Most Twitter Followers? (Hint: It's in Southeast Asia)

Which Central Bank Has the Most Twitter Followers? (Hint: It's in Southeast Asia)

Shortly after taking the job, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell highlighted the need to communicate monetary policy better. He could learn a thing or two from Indonesia.

Bank Indonesia has about 644,000 Twitter followers -- the most of any central bank. Among its almost 14,500 tweets are updates on exchange rates and inflation, prize giveaways and even a jaunty music video explaining how to spot fake bank notes. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde’s February visit spurred a flurry of posts.

Bank Indonesia spokesman Agusman, who like many Indonesians uses one name, said policy makers realized that use of social media had become a necessity considering the country’s large millennial population.

Central banks with the most Twitter followers, per March 2018. Image: Bloomberg
Central banks with the most Twitter followers, per March 2018. Image: Bloomberg

 

“With social media, we can breach communication barriers and also communicate in style,” he said. The bank is committed to making its content more “engaging and shareable” and “most importantly to become viral”.

Yet it’s not just about clicks.

Social media is an efficient way of communicating with the more than 260 million Indonesians sprawled across an archipelago of thousands of islands that would stretch from New York to London.

And BI’s active communication reflects a hands on approach which sees its staff work with police to break up chili cartels in the oil boom town of Balikpapan or buy owls to ward off rats from the fields of Banyuwangi.

Bank Indonesia's Twitter Account. Image: Twitter
Bank Indonesia's Twitter Account. Image: Twitter

 

Indonesians are prolific users of social media. Its more than 24 million Twitter accounts puts it third behind the U.S. and India, according to market and consumer data provider Statista, and it boasts about 90 million Facebook accounts.

Indonesian policy makers’ willingness to engage Internet users stands in contrast to the rather dreary lists of speech transcripts and balance sheet updates that make up the official feeds of Banco de Mexico and the Federal Reserve, second and third in terms of followers respectively.

Not only content to just reach out via Twitter, a post published with the hashtag SobatRupiah, or FriendsofRupiah, invited its followers to also drop by the bank’s offices.

 

Source : Bloomberg

Indah Gilang Pusparani

Indah is a researcher at Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Cirebon (Regional Development Planning and Research Agency of Cirebon Municipality). She covers More international relations, tourism, and startups in Southeast Asia region and beyond. Indah graduated from MSc Development Administration and Planning from University College London, United Kingdom in 2015. She finished bachelor degree from International Relations from University of Indonesia in 2014, with two exchange programs in Political Science at National University of Singapore and New Media in Journalism at Ball State University, USA. She was awarded Diplomacy Award at Harvard World Model United Nations and named as Indonesian Gifted Researcher by Australian National University. She is Researcher at Regional Planning Board in Cirebon, West Java. She previously worked as Editor in Bening Communication, the Commonwealth Parliament Association UK, and diplomacy consulting firm Best Delegate LLC in USA. Less
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