Why does Scholz have so few followers compared to other leaders?

13 comments

1. ….why would I follow him (or any government official) on instagram?!
   Guess that’s true for most other Germans, we simply don’t care. Like we care about politics but I don’t think politics should have a place on social media.

2. I personally find it really weird that any major politician has social media at all. Why would I follow them?

   Also sidenote: “Republic of Türkiye” is a funny little oxymoron. Great to see Recep is into fantasy writing.

3. The only time I want to interact with any political party is inside the polling booth.

4. Milei is a meme, there a more Turks in foreign countries wanting to following their president I’d think and Macron has been in power so much longer than Scholz. Also, Scholz is neither charismatic nor very public.

5. We are Germany.

   We obtain information from the public press in any political color with analyses and background information you require. (Except Bild, Springer)
   With the highlight “Tagesschau” at 20:00

   Why should you follow the channels of politicians? You only get lies and party advertising from this type of presentation, which is not contradicted there.

6. Compared to other countries, and I find that absolutely weird, there is no personal cult in Germany around politicians. Around Milei (+ Argentinians are highly politicised) and Gollum there is. Macron is just longer in power and is younger

7. Because, even though I am not suggesting any malicious intent, following any politician on social media just means subjugating yourself to propaganda. You only see what they want you to see. I can stay informed about politics though more independent news sources and I certainly don’t care what any politician does in their personal life.

8. … who? Right, that Mr Magoo guy. I heard of him, I think. I voted for his coalition but the best way to describe my enthusiasm for him is “Well at least he isn’t Merz”.

   Germans who are interested in politics read the newspaper, if they’re old, or watch Rezo and other YouTubers if they are younger. Both watch the 8’o clock news.

   German people tend to care less about the person themselves when they are interested in politics, so why should I follow anybody on instagram? A quick glance at Olaf’s feed shows me pearls of wisdom like

   “Wo Neues am Horizont auftaucht, bieten sich immer auch Chancen.” words as crisp as my 2016 sandals. They’re still good, really.

   “Darüber, was gebraucht wird, damit unser Land auch in Zukunft erfolgreich ist: (…) endlich mehr Tempo in der Energiewende.” … slightly nauseating, coming from him, tbh,…

   “Die kommenden Jahre sind entscheidend für die Zukunft unseres Landes.” … gee who’d have thunk.

   “Unseren Kurs zur Modernisierung Deutschlands behalten wir bei – auch in diesen schwierigen Zeiten.” – Why is he threatening us?

   Yeah… if you aren’t interested in politics, you don’t read this because why would you. If you are, you get your information from other media. If you are an Olaf fanboy or -girl because you are mesmerized by his personality, you are probably waiting for your meds to kick in.

9. a) he’s bland as fuck b) us germans don’t typically get our news from social media

10. Interested in politics means following politicians? Odd take.

11. I admire him compared to other average politicians, but I have no reason to follow any politician in social media

12. I assume it also has to do with him using a relatively new account that’s an official government one to boot unlike the other ones, I’m unsure but I would be surprised if Merkel or even her team would do outreach there. In Germany you also don’t have a presidential system of government, so the personification is slightly less pronounced than the countries you cited.

13. I struggle to find a reason to follow a national politician on some self-publication platform. Maybe I could benefit from following my local counselor or member of the state parliament, but what posts from Scholz would be more informative than listening to the news or one of the couple of political podcasts I follow?