Justin Bieber’s real world Milestone award may have been overshadowed, but in the virtual world he just became the first person ever to hit 40 million followers on Twitter.
The 19-year-old first overtook Lady Gaga, the then reigning Twitter Queen, in January.
Since then, despite claims by metrics analysts Socialbakers that Bieber’s actual follower count was around 17.8 million , his numbers kept on rising.
A definitive milestone, the teen singer’s reach on the social networking site not only flies in the face of the daily bruising he receives in headlines, in cold terms it also translates into money.
Advertisers, corporations and various brands Bieber represents — adidas NEO Motorola and SpendSmart, to name a just few — must be jubilant knowing their products now have the maximum chance of visibility Internet-wise.
On another note, it also gives the “Boyfriend” singer an unprecedented ability to promote the many charitable outreach programs he supports, such as Child Hunger Ends Now, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Whitney Elementary School and Pencils of Promise.
The teen star’s fan base immediately set about trending #40MillionBeliebers all around the world. This was swiftly followed by four more related trends, one of which was #40millionstrong.
Bieber’s achievement comes hot on the heels of his announcement of upcoming new single “Heartbreaker.” The Canadian posted four teaser captions along with artwork for the new song on his Instagram account late yesterday.
The singer’s fans tweeted their delight over the news. One such tweet had extra bite:
Take notes paparazzi, tabloids and other people. Give Justin some privacy and leave him alone. #40Millionstrong twitter.com/FanoftheAr1/st…
— Allie (@FanoftheAr1) June 4, 2013
For his part, Bieber’s response was simple and thankful. His first message read:
#40MillionBeliebers – thank u. i love u. #grateful
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) June 4, 2013