iPope he is not: Benedict XVI has proven to be a lousy tweeter

Pope Benedict has been a lousy tweeter by all fundamental social media standards.

1.) He lacks consistency in his tweets (34 in 61 days so far).

2.) He lacks a personality (his tweets are more sweet nothings than interesting tidbits from his lofty Vatican perch).

3.) And he hasn't "engaged" with followers — though maybe we shouldn't fault him when you look at some of the hate the Twittersphere spews his way.

His Holy See may well be remembered as the first pontiff to join the social media forum, but his Dec. 12 debut came about five years into his reign. And as far as we can tell, he hasn't bothered establishing an official Facebook page.

Take a look at some of his 34 tweets side-by-side with his "competitors": those like the Dalai Lama. We have to ask: Where are his Instagram photos? Why didn't he establish some gimmicky "Bible Passage of the Day" to at least provide daily food for thought? So few tweets, so many questions.

Yes, that's right. We've included the holier half of Run-DMC in this little rundown of religious tweeps. Reverend Run is ordained minister and he does have roughly three million more followers than the man formerly known as Cardinal Ratzinger, so there are lessons to be learned in the personality that Rev Run injects into his tweets.

Rabbi Shmuel "Shmuley" Boteach, who has been dubbed one of America's most influential Jewish leaders, is super busy on Twitter. He posts numerous times a day, likes to share photos of his family and the New Jersey wilderness in winter, and apparently, he isn't afraid to talk pop music.

We're not sure what happened here. Pope Benedict must've pushed "send" before spellchecking. Then thought the message so powerful as not to erase the original?

As the Dalai Lama often shows on Twitter, it's about employing the "you" word to engage with followers. He seems to acknowledge that using Twitter is like going a first date: avoid talking about yourself if you really want people to listen.

Ok, Kanye West isn't a religious leader. But the dude has nine-million-plus followers and every single one of those followers knows he could go on an epic rant at any moment. And in those epic rant moments, the truth about, er, something, shines through.

In the end, the proof is in the numbers. Pope Benedict heads a global religion that counts 1.1 billion people as members. Yet he has only 1.5 million followers. Kim Kardashian has 17.3 million followers. It probably says as much about social media in the 21st century as it does about organized religion. Still...

The next pope will have lots of work to do when it comes to the ongoing sex abuse scandal and the declining faith of younger generations. But he'll also have social media to worry about.