Posted on March 21, 2016 by Natalie Morin
Millions of people are flooding Twitter with love and likes today to mark the micro-blogging platform’s 10th birthday. In 2006, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sent his first tweet—little did he know that this simple product would lead to a decade of digital revolution.
just setting up my twttr
— Jack (@jack) March 21, 2006
Since that day, Twitter has grown to almost 4,000 employees in more than 35 countries and over 320 million monthly active users. And its user base is growing more every day. The platform has not only let people around the world express themselves, but also has led to important social movements, such as the Arab Spring in 2011. The site has also supported social change through hashtags, such as #BlackLivesMatter, #YesAllWomen and #BringBackOurGirls.
In honor of this special occasion, PrettyFamous used Twitter data to visualize those whose 140-character thoughts are the most popular today. Here are the most followed people on Twitter:
Pop diva Katy Perry dominates the charts and social media with about 84.8 million followers. Though the singer’s last album, Prism, was released a full two years ago, the singer is nonetheless followed by about a quarter of the site’s active users.
Justin Bieber, one of music’s better known and more polarizing bad boys, follows Perry with 77.5 million followers. While he comes in second place overall in terms of followers, he makes up for it in number of tweets. Bieber has posted 30,710 tweets since he joined the site in 2009, while Perry only has posted a paltry 6,854.
Country-singer-turned-pop-princess Taylor Swift comes in third place, with 73.2 million followers. The singer also is the second most followed person on Instagram, with more than 70.1 million followers.
Right on Swift’s heels is none other than President Barack Obama, with 71.4 million followers. Since he joined in 2007, before his first term in office, the president (or rather, his staff) has sent 14,738 tweets and follows over 637,000 accounts.
