Twitter isn't for everybody. But whether you have love or hate for Twitter it's hard not to acknowledge how it has changed the way we communicate, not only with each other but with famous people too. Twitter makes it immensely easy to contact celebrities, and even politicians and world leaders have accounts (although they're usually run by a lackey or two rather than themselves).
The trouble with these authenticated Twitter accounts of the great and the good is that they're interminably boring. It's not really their faults; anything interesting these famous folks do isn't going to make it into the public arena, and anything official they do is dull. This all means it's much more fun to follow the Twitter accounts of fake world leaders instead, seven of which are featured below.
Barack Obama @ThePresObama
Michelle is gonna get it tonight. She's been texting me some illumi-naughty things today.
#LegislativeBranch— Barack Obama (@ThePresObama) August 11, 2012
Ah, Barack Obama, current President of the United States. The rest of the world loves the guy, but many in the U.S. can't stand him. It's rather fitting that he (or at least his alter ego ThePresObama is first on this list, as the real Obama was one of the first politicians to truly take advantage of the opportunity Twitter offered for connecting with voters.
Queen Elizabeth @Queen_UK
Elizabeth Windsor, otherwise known as the Queen of England, or simply Her Majesty, is currently enjoying her Jubilee year. Meanwhile Queen_UK is enjoying her year of mimicking the haughty tone of the real thing with tweets talking about Prime Minister Cameron and his sidekick Nick Clegg, and all of her loyal subjects. One is not amused.
Angela Merkel @Queen_Europe
Seriously, does anybody have any idea what to do next? — Angela Merkel (not) (@Queen_Europe) July 20, 2012
Angela Merkel is quite a lady, being the first to be elected Chancellor of Germany, and in charge of one of the few European countries not to be struggling financially. This spoof account on Twitter is named Queen_Europe, and the moniker is rather fitting. Expect lots of tweets about the Euro crisis and Merkel's ability to remain calm when all about her are flapping.
Kim Jong-Un @KimJongNumberUn
I wonder if starting a nuclear war would increase my Klout score.
— KimJongNumberUn (@KimJongNumberUn) August 10, 2012
When Kim Jong-Il passed away at the end of 2011, his son Kim Jong-Un took over as leader of North Korea. Unsurprisingly the real Kim Jong-Un doesn't have a Twitter account, so it's left to KimJongNumberUn to do the honors. A succession of constantly-funny tweets means this account has racked up an impressive 167,000 followers at the time of writing, and you shouldn't feel bad about also jumping on the bandwagon.
Pope Benedict XVI @PopularPope
Boxing is certainly banned for the Vaticans nuns. They are enough trouble as it is.
— Benedict XVI (@PopularPope) August 10, 2012
As leader of the Catholic Church Pope Benedict XVI is meant to lead a pious life overseeing all of the followers of this particular religion around the world. But that's boring. He would much rather be making snarky comments about current affairs and pop culture, and it falls to his alter-ego PopularPope to bring the LOLs on Twitter.
Mitt Romney @MexicanMitt
YOU DEMS ARE RACIST AGAINST RICH GUYS
— Mexican Mitt Romney (@MexicanMitt) August 14, 2012
OK, so Mitt Romney isn't yet a world leader, but he may soon be if the U.S. throws Obama out of the White House in order to return to having a Republican president. Which is entirely possible. Either way MexicanMitt is worth following, with his tweets being slightly offensive to Mexicans but more offensive to the real Romney himself.
George W. Bush @TheRealGDubya
We're not good at fencing because, as Americans, we started using guns a long time ago.
— George W. Bush (@TheRealGDubya) July 28, 2012
From a candidate for the big job to a past incumbent. Who can forget George W. Bush and his time as President of the United States of America? Many have tried, all have failed. He spent eight long years in the White House and continues to bitch about the state of the world even now. American national pride and out-of-character cursing are the order of the day for TheRealGDubya.
Conclusions
There we have it, a collection of the best fake world leaders currently providing a satirical commentary on Twitter. When compiling this list I was actually rather surprised at the dearth of great spoof accounts of world leaders. There are lots of bad ones, or ones that are no longer being regularly updated, but very few that actually deserve to be followed by mainstream audiences.
This may be your chance to set a fake Twitter account up, allowing you to become the brains behind one of these fake Twitter feeds. If you do so then be sure to tweet often, make people laugh, and keep it all relevant and in keeping with what the real world leader you're going after would say or do. Bringing a sense of authenticity (just without the blue tick) is key.