Lessons from the Vatican’s Latin Twitter feed
Is your Twitter strategy stagnant? Learn what Papa Franciscus can teach you about outreach and audience.
In January, the Vatican launched a Twitter account for Pope Francis, @pontifex_ln, which features tweets only in Latin.
The feed’s language, which fell out of popular use centuries ago, shows some impressive results.
The account, “Papa Franciscus,” which was predicted to attract at most 5,000 followers, exploded in popularity. The Latin feed has garnered almost 118,000 followers—which makes it more popular than the Pope’s Arabic, Polish, and German Twitter accounts.
What makes this dead language so popular and what can your company learn from its unusual success?
Embrace company culture
Latin is a pillar of Roman Catholic culture. When Pope Benedict XVI launched the first papal Twitter in December 2012, letters from around the world arrived at the Vatican asking for a Latin account, reports NPR.
If your followers don’t ask you to tweet about something in particular, ask yourself: Does your Twitter feed adequately showcase your corporate culture?
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