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Want to Be More Like Elon Musk and Beyoncé? Here Is Who They Follow on Twitter. For many of the biggest personalities, they take the less-is-more approach.

By Nina Zipkin

Kevin Mazur | Getty Images

Social media can be all-consuming, the constant scroll and need to see what everyone is doing at all times. But there is something to be said for quality over quantity. Many of the most famous people have millions of followers on Twitter, but they do very little following of their own. Take a look at who the people are who captured their attention.

Elon Musk

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO follows 47 accounts. A lot of those are aerospace and news-related, but he does follow six actual people:

  1. Oculus VR CTO John Carmack
  2. His ex-wife, actress and writer Talulah Riley
  3. His brother, fellow entrepreneur Kimbal Musk
  4. Science blogger Tim Urban, co-founder of waitbutwhy.com
  5. Comedian John Oliver
  6. Science blogger Phil Plait

Musk also seems to be a fan of the cartoon comedies Rick & Morty and South Park.


Warren Buffett

Zero. The Oracle of Omaha has 1.35 million followers, but has only actually tweeted nine times. We do know from his account that he is a supporter of Sheryl Sandberg's organization Lean In and he is a fan of Breaking Bad.

Oprah Winfrey

Winfrey has 41.2 million followers, but only follows 289 accounts. She predominantly follows the people she works with on her network, (very famous) friends and writers she admires. Lately she has been using the platform to share her thoughts and prayers for those affected by the wildfires in California, to talk about her upcoming film, A Wrinkle in Time and congratulate the most recent addition to Weight Watcher's slate of celeb ambassadors.

Jeff Bezos

Zero. Bezos has only tweeted 139 times, and mainly uses his account to share news about Amazon and Blue Origin, like this video from December 2017

Bill Gates

Gates is actually fairly active on Twitter. He follows 183 accounts total but 79 individual people including a variety of world leaders, economists, scientists, writers and actors. It's quite an eclectic list that includes Malala Yousafzai, Mandy Moore and AOL co-founder Steve Case.

He frequently tweets about what inspires him, especially books.

Beyoncé

Queen Bey is more known for her highly curated and art directed Instagram account than for her Twitter presence. She's only tweeted 10 times and 15.2 million people follow her. She follows exactly eight people and two organizations, her non-profit BeyGood and BeyonceWeb, a dedicated fan account.

Here are the people she follows:

  1. Activist DeRay Mckesson
  2. Michelle Williams
  3. Usher
  4. Mariah Carey
  5. Kelly Rowland
  6. Angie Beyince
  7. Solange Knowles

Kim Kardashian

Whatever you think about Kim Kardashian, her business savvy as far as constructing her image is pretty unparalleled. She has 58.2 million followers and only follows 129 people, many of them her fans, but mostly her family members and other famous faces.

Taylor Swift

Zero. The pop superstar has 85.8 million followers, has tweeted 81 times and has a very on-the-nose Twitter bio tying into her most recent album: "The old Taylor can't come to the phone right now."

Related: 5 Business Lessons From Taylor Swift

Conan O’Brien

The comedian and host has 27.9 million followers and follows just one person, a woman named Sarah Killen. No celebs, just a single civilian, whose Twitter bio reads: "I love to smile and have fun in life. I think that anyone and anything can be forgiven and we should all just love and be." He sort of explains why in this tweet:
Nina Zipkin

Entrepreneur Staff

Staff Writer. Covers leadership, media, technology and culture.

Nina Zipkin is a staff writer at Entrepreneur.com. She frequently covers leadership, media, tech, startups, culture and workplace trends.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

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