@AngelaMerkel: Will Germany ever have a tweeting chancellor?

Angela Merkel is poised to win her fourth election without having tweeted once. While campaigns around the world are increasingly shaped on Twitter, Merkel is one of the last world leaders without an account. But with more and more political debate moving onto Twitter, can she hold out much longer? Angela Merkel looks set to become Germany’s last non-tweeting chancellor. What’s more, while most political players in Germany are busy clocking up followers, Merkel has become the last leader from the G7 group of leading industrial nations without a Twitter account.

Which some consider strange. Merkel would easily be Germany’s most popular politician on Twitter, as a 2016 YouGov study showed. Instead, she chooses to be represented by her spokesman, Steffen Seibert (@RegSprecher). Seibert’s account has collected a moderate 830,000 followers, putting him roughly halfway between British premier Theresa May (380,000) and French President Emmanuel Macron (1.9 million).

His tweets mostly offer footage and quotes from press conferences and the occasional official response to a major global event. But it feels like exactly what it is: a press spokesperson’s account. Unlike the distinctly personal accounts of other world leaders, it lacks any sense that the words being sent out are coming straight from Merkel’s own two thumbs.

“It’s a missed opportunity,” says John H Parmelee, author of “Politics and the Twitter Revolution,” a study on the far-reaching impact of Twitter on political elections worldwide. “Leaders themselves are better off with being on Twitter,” Parmelee tells dpa. “Research shows that political tweets can be as influential on followers’ political views as their friends and family.”?

For this reason, more than 90 per cent of the world’s democratic leaders have had some form of presence on Twitter since 2015, according to figures from social media consultancy Digital Daya. And yet, Germany is one of just three Nato members and three G20 members without a tweeting statesperson, and this at the height of its election season.

So why is Merkel so reluctant to sign up?

Despite her frequent rhetoric about the need for “digital progress” in Germany, Merkel herself has shown little personal affinity towards new technologies, even prompting ridicule for describing the internet as a “new territory” as late as 2013. France’s new statesman, Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, made sure he was photographed with not one, but two, smartphones in his official presidential portrait in June. The chancellor herself recently admitted she often thinks of joining Twitter, but says?it’s?too much work.

“I’d have to constantly follow what’s going on and regularly have something to say,”?she told the German news group?RND this week. Even if Merkel were to struggle to maintain an account, she could seek help from her eight-strong social media team, which already publishes photos and quotes to nearly 3 million followers on Facebook and Instagram (compared to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s combined 11 million fans on the same platforms).

But handing over responsibility comes with risks, as was recently demonstrated when Merkel’s official Instagram account posted a photo of a very masculine-looking hand holding up an ice cream cone in front of the chancellery. “Why are her hands so hairy?” wrote one of her many confused followers.

A presence on Twitter could also mean a far greater disadvantage to Merkel than the occasional social media slip-up. In contrast to social media’s fast-paced and fleeting nature, Merkel is notoriously cautious and deliberate with her remarks. A presence on Twitter could make it more difficult to remain strategically silent for longer periods of time.

Merkel’s main rival in the 2017 general election – Social Democrat Martin Schulz – regularly bashes his opponent in tweets, trying to provoke a response from the chancellor. “Merkel is rejecting a quota for e-cars, but has no proposal of her own. The future of mobility can’t be shaped with political denial!” reads a typical Schulz tweet. He may be lagging in the polls, but he is Germany’s most popular politician on Twitter.

A more prominent Twitter presence would likely make it more difficult for the chancellor to avoid answering direct tweets like these and getting roped into election season spats. Perhaps even more daunting for Merkel, a Twitter account could mean an obligation to reply to tweets by US President Donald Trump.

Trump, who frequently ropes politicians and celebrities into Twitter battles, has not been able to tag Merkel in any of his rants about German trade deficit, immigration or payments to Nato.

Twitter may be a crucial election battleground in the US, but in Germany it has so far not stopped Merkel from maintaining a steady lead in the polls. Whatever her reasons for keeping off this platform, a government spokeswoman tells dpa there are still “no plans” for Merkel to get an account anytime soon.