Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-SaudReuters

Saudi Arabia's King Salman took to Twitter to reach out to more than one million people after becoming the new ruler of the Middle East country, which is known to censor use of social media and the Internet.

The 79-year-old Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud also changed his Twitter handle from @HRHPSalman to @KingSalman within a matter of hours after King Abdullah passed away on Friday.

Some of his posts, written in Arabic, read as – "God rest the soul of Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz and grant his people the best rewards in his separation" and "I am asking god to help me serve the dear people and realize their dreams, and protect our country and security and stability, and protect it from all evil", according to NBC.

By Saturday, King Salman's followers grew from 1.3 million to nearly 1.5 million, though he himself is yet to 'follow' anyone on Twitter.

King Salman's tweets kept netizens engaged on Friday, with his new handle receiving more than 2.7 lakh mentions in a day, according to Topsy, a social media analytics site.

King Salman, the half-brother of the late King Abdullah, took over as the new monarch of the oil-rich nation, and has vowed to adhere to the same policies as his predecessors.

"We will continue adhering to the correct policies which Saudi Arabia has followed since its establishment," he said in a speech broadcast on state television.

Thousands of citizens gathered at Governance Palace in Riyadh to pledge allegiance to King Salman on Friday evening. 

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