BGR India reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most followed political leader on social media, anywhere. Modi has 39 million followers on Facebook, 26.5 million on Twitter, 5.8 million on Instagram, and 5.9 million on YouTube. Modi rose to number one because Barack Obama (88 million followers just on Twitter), stepped down as U.S. president.

University of Michigan School of Information assistant professor Joyojeet Pal weighs in: “Modi has used social media successfully to shape his public image as a tech savvy leader, aligning himself with the aspirations of a younger generation in India.”

[Joyojeet’s 2015 paper on Modi and Twitter.]

Update [July 20, 2017]: Modi may be back in second place, after U.S. President Donald Trump.