Twitter has provided an outlet for the masses to express themselves in 140 characters or less at a time. Celebrities and politicians alike have taken to Twitter, which allows these high profile people to directly connect with their public audience. Everyone has a voice on this platform, but some are just heard louder than others. Today, we bring you ten of the most widely followed, influential people on Twitter who have impacted our present culture and continue to have an effect on society.
1. Barack Obama
As the current President of the United States of America, Barack Obama has the world attentively watching and listening to him. In fact, President Obama has had all eyes and ears on him since his election campaign and win in 2008 and his subsequent inauguration in 2009. Twitter has played a vital role in keeping the President and the people connected to one another and spreading the President’s stance on hot topics–most notably, in recent news, includes his support of marriage equality. While his Twitter account is primarily controlled by his campaign staff, he does occasionally take the time out to tweet to his 15 million followers. With the 2012 presidential election approaching, this Twitter account is one to keep a close watch on for the latest in the President’s campaign trail.
2. Pete Cashmore
Pete Cashmore is the founder and CEO of Mashable, a leading news website “dedicated to covering digital culture, social media and technology.” Cashmore, who is only 26 years old, was recently crowned the most influential person in the world on the 2012 TIME 100 list. Having made quite the name for himself, the social news guru’s professional account, whose 50,000+ tweets consist of the latest news article on Mashable, has gained close to 3 million followers. Cashmore also has a personal Twitter account which is less frequently updated.
3. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey has many titles including actress, producer, and media mogul with her own television network (OWN) and magazine (O). She is the former television host of her own talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, that was widely received and revered for the distance it took from the typical tabloid talk show in the 90′s. For years, she has managed to grow in popularity and make a name for herself as a strong and likable force in the public eye. Like her talk show, Winfrey expresses empathy and compassion for real people and social issues. She utilizes her Twitter account to share inspiring words and write back to the public, which makes a significant difference in the effectiveness of her words.
4. Stephen Fry
Actor, writer, and comedian Stephen Fry is an active and veritable force on Twitter. With over 4 million followers, the British humorist was an early adopter of the quick status updating platform in 2008. The increased popularity of Twitter in the UK is due in large part to the wordsmith’s activity on the social networking site. Fry has managed to grow his humble following from his early years on Twitter with his clever wit. He has garnered a loyal internet following, leading some fans to profess their love for him in equally creative and humorous ways.
5. Felicia Day
Just shy of 2 million followers, actress, writer, and producer Felicia Day‘s influence through her avid use of Twitter has been known to crash sites, simply by tweeting links to them. She is, arguably, the queen of the geeks and gamers. The media maven has cornered the market on gaming and evolved the future of new media with the introduction of her wildly popular web series The Guild, which premiered on YouTube in 2007. Nearly 5 years later, she has managed to build a career out of creating original web content and even launched a YouTube channel called Geek & Sundry that features original shows geared towards indie geek culture everyday.
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