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Avid campaigner of human rights and women's issues is also the globe's most tech-savvy monarch. Nearly 600,000 people follow her on Twitter, where she identifies herself as "a mum and a wife with a really cool day job"; also has a Facebook page. Jordan's queen made significant strides in promoting East-West dialogue by leading a series of films on YouTube that explored shared medieval heritage; she has since been awarded YouTube's first-ever Visionary award. Hosted Pope Benedict XVI on his first trip to the Middle East.

In addition to her efforts on behalf of education, human rights and women's issues, Jordan's monarch focused this year on bridging gaps between the U.S. and the Middle East. In August she announced via Twitvid, a Twitter video application, the winners of a tourism contest she sponsored, which will bring an American to Jordan and send a Jordanian to the U.S. on all-expense-paid trips. She's a queen of social media, too, with more than 1.3 million followers on Twitter and more than 300,000 fans on Facebook; she also maintains her own website and YouTube channel.