Elon Musk Set To Become Number-One Influencer On Twitter

Tuesday, 17 January 2023 is the day analysts predict Elon Musk will become the number-one influencer on Twitter.

With 120 million followers, his account, @ElonMusk, is already the second most followed, after @BarackObama, the former US President, which has 130 million.

And following a meteoric rise in the month since he bought Twitter, Mr Musk's will inevitably overtake, statisticians at Social Blade say.

This will be an unprecedented moment.
 
The social-media industry has never before seen a platform with a chief executive who is also its biggest personality.

So if Mr. Musk is to become both Twitter's chief executive and its "chief influencer", what are the implications - for the billionaire and for the website?
 
BBC News has asked experts for their thoughts on three key statistics.

Musk is gaining 270,000 followers a day

In spite of recent controversies, Mr Musk's popularity on Twitter is undeniable and growing.

Over the past 12 months, he has gained 268,303 followers a day, on average, according to Social Blade, and lost followers on only five days, which can all be linked to news events.

He lost nearly 200,000 on 12 November, when major job cuts were announced at Twitter - and as he is likely to have gained new followers that day too, the actual number who unfollowed him must have been much higher.

"Elon Musk is now the main character on Twitter," social media commentator Matt Navarra says.

"In some ways, having a CEO who is a major influencer on the platform has some advantages because it makes him very accessible to people."
 
Very few social-media chief executives are major influencers on their own websites.