Modi pips Big B to become most followed Indian on Twitter

New Delhi, Aug 25 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi haspipped Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan to become the mostfollowed Indian on social media site Twitter. As on August 25, Modi had over 22.1 million followers onthe social networking platform, while Bachchan marginallytrailed with 22 million at the last count. In January, Modi’s Twitter followers surpassed that ofBollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Modi, then, became thesecond most followed Indian on Twitter with over 17,371,600followers, compared to Khan’s 17,351,100. Now, Khan is the third most followed Indian on Twitterwith 20.9 million users of the social media site followinghim. The number of followers of Modi’s account (@narendramodi)consistently increased by about a million every two months in2015. It crossed the 15 million mark on September 22 lastyear, and touched 16 million on November 20. In 2016, the growth rate of Modi’s Twitter followersslowed down, with about 5 million users being added in aroundeight months. Active on Twitter since 2009, Modi is also the second mostfollowed politician in the world, right after US PresidentBarack Obama (@barackobama), as per Twitter. Modi has used Twitter for campaigns like #MakeInIndia,#SwachBharat, #MannKiBaat and #SelfieWithDaughter to reach andconnect with citizens. Government is encouraging people and officials to useTwitter to communicate with each other. PTI PRSABM