Battle of the Queens

The YouTube Queen of Jordan has taken another step towards becoming the world’s most technologically connected Royal. She’s now posting minute-by-minute updates on Twitter.

In a couple of days she’s rocketed up from a handful of followers to around four thousand. So far, we’ve heard of her ariel acrobatics, as her husband pilots the royal helicopter – we’ve found out about her taste in films and her struggle to be a mother and queen. And it’s all written in irritating txt spk.

It seems to be the real deal. CNN’s Octavia Nasr is sure it really is Rania logging-in to Twitter.

North of the border, Syria’s First Lady Asma Al-Assad is also jumping on to the technological bandwagon. She’s on Facebook, talking about her charity work. Appropriately, she’s helped launch a project to get disadvantaged children online.

Let’s face it, politics is a popularity contest. And with the absence of Western-style free and fair elections in the region, what better way to measure their appeal than by social networking sites. Queen Rania comes in at 4000 Twitter followers (although she just registered a couple of days ago, so that figure will grow). Asma Al-Assad tops the lot with 9000 on Facebook.