According to Elon Musk, some people use hair to express themselves, and he uses Twitter.
No other rich and famous person uses Twitter like Elon. Here’s a list of 10 most-followed Twitter accounts.
[Table] Twitter’s Top 10 Active Accounts by Twitter Followers.
| Rank | Owner | Followers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barack Obama | 131.7 millions |
| 2 | Justin Bieber | 114.3 millions |
| 3 | Katy Perry | 108.9 millions |
| 4 | Rihanna | 106.2 millions |
| 5 | Cristiano Ronaldo | 99.4 millions |
| 6 | Taylor Swift | 90.3 millions |
| 7 | Elon Musk | 89.1 millions |
| 8 | Lady Gaga | 84.6 millions |
| 9 | Narandra Modi | 78.1 millions |
| 10 | Ellen DeGeneres | 77.5 millions |
However, no one tweets like Elon Musk. Except for him, almost all these accounts don’t tweet at all.
By user count, Twitter isn’t the biggest social media platform globally. It’s 15th by user count. However, Elon Musk is addicted to Twitter and Tweets numerous times daily.
[Table] Most Popular Social Network Ranking by Active Monthly Users. (source)
| Rank | Social Media | Active Users |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2,910 millions | |
| 2 | YouTube | 2,562 millions |
| 3 | 2,000 millions | |
| 4 | 1,478 millions | |
| 5 | WeChat (Chinese) | 1,263 millions |
| 6 | TikTok (Chinese) | 1,000 millions |
| 7 | Facebook Messenger | 988 millions |
| 8 | Douyin (Chinese) | 600 millions |
| 9 | QQ (Chinese) | 574 millions |
| 10 | Weibo (Chinese) | 573 millions |
| 11 | Kuaishou (Chinese) | 573 millions |
| 12 | Snapchat | 557 millions |
| 13 | Telegram | 550 millions |
| 14 | 444 millions | |
| 15 | 436 millions | |
| 16 | 430 millions | |
| 17 | Quora | 300 millions |
Elon doesn’t use Facebook or Instagram. Even though he had accounts on those two platforms, he deleted those after Facebook’s privacy controversy. Even Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, Starlink, and Boring Company don’t have Instagram and Facebook accounts.
Tesla — the biggest EV maker globally — doesn’t have a PR department. Thus Twitter is the only communication medium for Elon Musk.
All the world leaders, politicians, business CEOs, executives, government officials, journalists, and celebrities are on Twitter. It’s a quick and direct way to engage with people without barriers.
Thus, Elon Musk uses Twitter to get across his unfiltered opinion to the world. Moreover, he uses it to gather customer sentiment, thoughts, and global news.
Twitter is a very effective medium to sway public opinion. Elon gets it, and he uses it to benefit his companies.
Ford, GM, and other car manufacturers use billions of dollars yearly on advertisements. However, Tesla uses $0. The only way Tesla gets all this attention and sales is because of Elon Musk. All the interest and controversy surrounding Elon Musk garners many Tesla advertisements. Because whenever a news outlet writes about Elon, they mention him as the founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
Elon knows how important it is to be in the center of attention all the time for his various businesses, and he tries to keep himself in the news cycle willingly or unwillingly.
Other famous personnel such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Barack Obama, and Lady Gaga don’t engage with critics or fans. However, Elon is different. He not only communicates with fans but also gives strong opinions toward his critics. He never backs down. It creates a dynamic Twitter exchange and needs prolific tweets.
According to Musk’s various interviews, he was bullied at school and had a rough childhood with his father. At an early age, Elon had a speech impediment. He was an avid reader and read almost every book he could get his hands on.
Elon Musk’s mother describes Elon as a fighter. Even Elon has said on several occasions that he never quits. He tries relentlessly to achieve whatever he is trying to accomplish. According to Elon, one should try to do something if it’s important, even if the odds of success are extremely high.
Thus, Elon Musk likes to talk and uses Twitter to express himself. It’s one reason why Elon tweets so much.
He doesn’t sweet talk to please others. If he doesn’t like something, he will tell that to their face. Thus, even on Twitter, Elon will show his disagreement. Furthermore, he expresses his socioeconomic and political opinion avidly on Twitter. He actively engages in discussions with influencers, customers, and other media personnel.
Social media is designed to be addictive. The more they can keep a user on its platform, the more they can earn money from advertisers.
It’s known that these platforms use phycological research and clever algorithms to enhance user engagement. For example, the Tiktoks’ algorithm is considered one of the best in the industry to surface relevant videos to a user’s interest.
Unlike other social media, where entertainment and communication are primary, Twitter is primarily used to disseminate and gather information. Even though Twitter is 15th in the world, it’s the number one in setting trends in the news cycle. Every news and user opinion breaks on Twitter first, and then it moves to other platforms.
Learning about the latest news is addictive. For example, if a person is interested in a particular celebrity or politician, they will consume every news regarding that politician or celebrity. Sometimes, we already know the news, but still, we flip through different news outlets to hear diverse analysis on that event.
Furthermore, over time our interest changes — we may obsess over an event for a few weeks, but we will soon move on to another news.
Similar to everyone, Elon Musk has an opinion on everything. Though most people don’t express it, Elon doesn’t back down from expressing his opinion. Thus every week, whenever a new topic comes to the spotlight, Elon Musk gives his view. Sometimes, he gets pushback from critics, but he doesn’t flinch.
Elon’s Twitter obsession isn’t unusual. Many people use Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram, or Reddit obsessively. However, Elon gets more press than others because he is rich and famous.
In an old interview, Maye Musk — Elon’s mother — revealed that Elon wanted to be famous. He even appeared in several cameos, such as in Iron Man 2, Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Simpsons, etc. He also famously dated Amber Heard, Grimes. He also married and divorced Talulah Riley.
Contrary to many, Elon enjoys all the media attention. And his prolific tweets fuel the media. It’s why he tweets so much.
