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Gay Celebrities & Their Twitter Followers

Twitterbird.rainbowRecently I wrote a post about overexposed LGBT celebrities based on how many Google search results they had.  This latest analysis gauges the popularity of these gay and lesbian "A-listers" based on the number of followers each has on Twitter.  Similar to the the Google analysis, I chose close to 450 gay and lesbian "personalities", 70% of whom have Twitter accounts; those with accounts have a median age of 50, with thirty over the age of 65 and thirteen younger than 30. 

 

MOST FOLLOWERS

EllenshowThe median number of followers is 25,000.  Twenty-two have more than 1 million, led by Ellen DeGeneres, who has more than 28 million (she also ranks in the top 10 among all celebs).  She is  followed by Ricky Martin and Neil Patrick Harris who have 10 and 8.4 million followers, respectively.  Four of the celebs with 1 million+ followers are over the age of 60, with George Takei, at 77, being the oldest.  Three are under 30, with British diver Tom Daley, at age 19, the youngest. 

 

The following chart lists the gay and lesbian celebrities with 1 million or more Twitter followers:

 

LGBT PERSONALITIES WITH 1 MILLION+ TWITTER FOLLOWERS
       
      # of
      Followers
Celeb Profession Age (In Millions)
Ellen DeGeneres Comic/Talk Show Host 57 28.30
Ricky Martin Singer 41 10.00
Neil Patrick Harris Actor 44 8.39
Stephen Fry Comic/Actor 56 6.72
Perez Hilton Blogger 36 5.98
Anderson Cooper  News Anchor 46 4.91
Alan Carr Comic/TV Personality 37 3.96
Rachel Maddow News Anchor 41 2.87
Tom Daley Diver 19 2.62
Chris Colfer Actor 23 2.39
Adam Lambert Singer 27 2.25
Robbie Williams Singer 40 2.22
Michael Kors Fashion Designer 54 1.91
Jane Lynch Actress 53 1.75
Calvin Klein Fashion Designer 72 1.72
Samantha Ronson DJ/Musician 36 1.57
Suze Orman Financial Advisor 62 1.53
Marc Jacobs  Fashion Designer 51 1.53
Andy Cohen TV Executive 45 1.37
Michael Ausiello TV Journalist 42 1.16
George Takei Actor 77 1.12
Jillian Michaels Fitness Guru 40 1.04
(As of 4/7/2014)      

 

FEWEST FOLLOWERS

GusvansantAt the other end of the spectrum, 39 persons have fewer than 1,000 followers, including personalities such as director Gus Van Sant, New York Times theater critic Bill Brantley, designer Todd Oldham and author Kevin Sessums.

 

SURPRISES

Stephen.fryThe biggest head scratcher, for me at least, is the wild popularity of British actor Stephen Fry, who has the 4th highest following, with 6.7 million.  Other surprises include British TV personality Alan Carr at #7; pop singer Robbie Williams at #12; DJ Samantha Ronson at #16; financial advice doyenne Suze Orman at #17; trainer Jillian Michaels at #22 and actor Ian McKellen at #23.  

 

NUMBER OF TWEETS SENT

Matt.bomerThe median number of tweets is 2,500.  This includes five who have yet to send their first tweet: Matt Bomer, entrepreneur Peter Thiel, Jason Gould (Babs' son), Ben Brantley and Cynthia Nixon.  Bomer's lack of tweets is particularly noteworthy considering he has 168,000 followers (akin to subscribing to a magazine that doesn't publish).  In addition to these five, there are eleven others who have sent fewer than ten tweets.   

 

BuckhollywoodEntertainment blogger Michael Buckley (aka Buck Hollywood) has sent the most tweets, 87,600, followed by porn director Chi Chi La Rue with 78,3000.  Then weatherman Sam Champion, journalist Glenn Greenwald and Boy George have each tweeted between 44,000 and 46,000 times (includes retweets).  In total, there are 52 LGBT celebs who have sent more than 10,000 tweets.

 

The following chart lists the 15 most prolific tweeters:

 

MOST PROLIFIC TWEETERS
    # of
Celeb Profession Tweets Followers
Buck Hollywood Blogger 87,600 635,000
Chi Chi LaRue Porn Director 78,300 51,000
Sam Champion Weatherman 46,100 194,000
Glenn Greenwald Journalist 44,900 345,000
Boy George Singer 44,000 301,000
Bobby Rivers TV Personality 38,800 3,167
Anderson Cooper* News Anchor 36,500 417,000
Jonathan Capehart Journalist 36,300 92,300
Susan Powter Motivational Speaker 35,800 5,674
Andy Cohen TV Exec 35,400 1,370,000
Suze Orman Financial Guru 24,000 1,530,000
Alec Mapa Comic/Actor 22,100 27,600
Michael Ausiello TV Journalist 21,200 1,160,000
Chely Wright Country Singer 20,100 47,400
Samantha Ronson DJ/Musician 20,000 1,570,000
*for his show "Anderson Cooper 360"

 

HOW MANY DO THEY FOLLOW?

Although the median number of followers gay A-listers have is 25,000, the number of persons they follow back is just 295, which works out to about one out of every hundred persons who follow them.  Neil Patrick Harris, who has more than eight million followers, follows just 69, or one out of every 125,000 of his followers; Ricky Martin follows one out of every 33,000 and Ellen DeGeneres follows one out of every 600. 

 

RyanmurphyNine can't be bothered to follow anyone, with the most arrogance (or is it chutzpah?) displayed by Ryan Murphy (who has 639,000 followers) and Matt Drudge (262,000).  However, there are 25 of the gliterrati who follow more than 2,500.  Ellen follows 46,500 but that's a tiny amount when you consider that she has 28 million followers.  Steven Fry has follows the most of any celeb, with 51,500.  That's 5,000 more than Ellen even though he has 21.5 million fewer followers.  And photographer Mike Ruiz also follows more than Ellen, with 49,000 - but has only 100,000 followers in total. 

 

New York Times advertising reporter Stuart Elliott stands out because he is the only person in this analysis who follows more people than his number of followers (27,700 vs. 27,200). 

 

The following chart shows those with the highest ratio of persons followed: to followers (of those with at least 10,000 followers): 

 

HIGHEST RATIO OF FOLLOW: FOLLOWERS  
(Those with 10,000+ Followers)
         
  Profession Follow Followers Ratio
Stuart Elliott Journalist 27,700 27,200 1.018
Cazwell Singer 37,900 58,000 0.653
Mike Ruiz Photographer 48,000 109,000 0.440
Bruce LaBruce Filmmaker 8,164 19,400 0.421
Paula Poundstone Comic 36,500 88,900 0.411
Jerry Mitchell Choreographer 3,043 10,000 0.304
Jack Mackenroth Model 26,500 90,600 0.292
John Amaechi Former Athlete 4,532 18,500 0.245
Tammy Baldwin US Senator 5,010 24,700 0.203
Laverne Cox Actress 1,376 68,400 0.201
Dyana Nyad Swimmer 7,773 43,400 0.179
         
Average   295 25,000 0.012

 

MORE THAN 125 AREN'T ON TWITTER

Jonathan.groff.outmag30% of gay movers and shakers aren't on Twitter; their median age is 57, which is seven years older than those with Twitter accounts.  Rap singer Frank Ocean had an account until the summer of 2013 when he deleted it.  Chipotle CEO Steve Ells had one last week but it has since been closed.  And although actor Jonathan Groff has a Twitter account, he last tweeted in August 2011, so it's as if he didn't have one (to the chagrin of his 5,300 followers). 

Comments

Stephen York

Trying to find Steve 12 inches

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