Are Singapore politicians using Twitter effectively?

It is almost sacrilegious for politicians these days not to leverage on social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook for their election campaigns.

The recent presidential election in India was a classic example of social media strategy at its finest. The victor, Narenda Modi used Twitter to great effect, reaching out to 4.4 million followers through the 140-character text message platform.

According to a recent Reuters report, Twitter Inc even has its own in-house political strategists to help their politician-clients use its mediums effectively.

These 'spin doctors' provided expertise to Indian politicians for their election campaigns. Mobile and media firms were also hired to 're-tweet' messages, effectively multiplying the reach of their clients.

Last week, Twitter's political strategist honcho Adam Sharp was deployed to Brazil to explain the political potential of Twitter's six-second video app Vine to senators.

All three Brazilian presidential candidates in this year's general election have also been quick to hop on the Twitter bandwagon during the first round of the election.

In the 2011 Singapore general election, the influence and reach of social media came under scrutiny for the first time.

At the peak of election fever in 2011, there was a relentless barrage of tweets and posts from both the People's Action Party (PAP) and the opposition.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong upped the ante in 2102 when he launched his Facebook and Twitter pages.

PM Lee now has over 72,800 followers on his Twitter account, while his Facebook page boasts over 349,000 likes.

How do other Singapore politicians fare on Twitter? How many followers do they have?

Click through the gallery below to find out - and keep an eye out for a surprise at the end.

grongloh@sph.com.sg