Miriam’s Social Media Influence Surges

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago remains the most influential senator on social media, with her Facebook and Twitter following doubling in March from the same period last year.

The senator, who was named one of the 10 most influential Filipinas in 2015 by a major local news network, has 2,618,263 followers on her official Facebook page as of March 18, up from some 1.3 million a year ago.

Her Twitter following has also breached the one-million mark early this year, and has further grown to 1,348,420 as of March 18. This is more than twice the 649,000 followers she had around the same time in 2014.

Santiago is the only senator with million-level followings in the two social media platforms. On Facebook, her next most popular colleague is Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, with 543,744 followers. Other senators who have official Facebook pages are:

3. Chiz Escudero – 491,123 followers

4. Antonio Trillanes – 398,778 followers

5. Cynthia Villar – 98,536 followers

6. Loren Legarda – 254,021 followers

7. Grace Poe – 242,498 followers

8. Bam Aquino – 209,332 followers

9. Juan Ponce Enrile – 200,122 followers

10. Pia Cayetano – 183,167 followers

11. Sonny Angara – 177,309 followers

12. JV Ejercito – 145,122 followers

13. Koko Pimentel – 143,655 followers

14. Bongbong Marcos – 122,259 followers

15. Frank Drilon – 75,509 followers

16. TG Guingona – 15,490 followers

17. Nancy Binay – 9,921 followers

18. Gringo Honasan – 5,734 followers

19. Ralph Recto – 3,485 followers

20. Jinggoy Estrada – 1,623 followers

21. Serge Osmena – 1,212 followers

Senators Lito Lapid, Bong Revilla, and Tito Sotto have personal Facebook accounts, but have no official Facebook pages for comparison.

On Twitter, Sen. Pia Cayetano has the second biggest following after Santiago. Cayetano has 359,330 followers on her Twitter account. Other senators with official Twitter accounts are:

3. Chiz Escudero – 220,143 followers

4. Bongbong Marcos – 191,968 followers

5. Sonny Angara – 63,278 followers

6. Bam Aquino – 39,902 followers

7. JV Ejercito – 39,464 followers

8. Loren Legarda – 39,204 followers

9. Grace Poe – 35,048 followers

10. TG Guingona – 32,004 followers

11. Juan Ponce Enrile – 25,134 followers

12. Koko Pimentel – 22,657 followers

13. Antonio Trillanes – 20,479 followers

14. Nancy Binay – 14,554 followers

15. Cynthia Villar – 14,360 followers

16. Gringo Honasan – 13,876 followers

17. Alan Peter Cayetano – 10,774 followers

18. Frank Drilon – 6,247 followers

19. Bong Revilla – 5,649 followers

20. Jinggoy Estrada – 3,260 followers

Sen. Serge Osmena’s recently launched Twitter account has 31 followers so far. Senators Lito Lapid, Ralph Recto, and Tito Sotto have no official Twitter accounts.

Among government officials, Santiago was the second most social media-savvy, next only to President Benigno Aquino III, who has 4,280,771 fans on his official Facebook page and 2,497,817 followers on Twitter.

A far third from Santiago is Interior Sec. Mar Roxas, who has 679,107 followers on Facebook and 446,175 on Twitter. Santiago also has a bigger social media clout than the accounts of the Official Gazette (408,398 on Facebook and 563,703 on Twitter).

Santiago has been battling with lung cancer, stage four, since June last year. Doctors have earlier diagnosed her with chronic fatigue syndrome. She is still on medical leave, but continues to dispense with her official duties on a priority basis.

The senator also filed the most number of bills and resolutions filed in the 16th Congress as of the end of 2014. She has also presided over public hearings as chair of the Senate committees on foreign relations and constitutional amendments.

Santiago launched her book, Stupid is Forever, in December 2014. The collection of jokes became the fastest-selling book, and remains on top of National Book Store’s list of best-selling books by Filipino authors.

Earlier this month, Santiago also topped a newspaper’s online poll on graduating students’ commencement speaker preference. Survey respondents said they chose the senator because of her humor and substance.

senate.gov.ph