The study, World Leaders on Facebook, is Burson-Marsteller's latest research into how world leaders, governments and international organisations communicate via social media. Over the past eight years, Facebook has emerged as the platform of choice for world leaders and governments to engage with their constituents. 

But for this small Gulf nation, which boasts the world’s fourth-largest known oil reserves but is situated in one of the world’s most troubled regions, the World Cup is far more than just a horse race.