Change your name to Trump to get followed by The Donald
Nearly 45 percent of the accounts the GOP presidential nominee follows on Twitter carry his surname.
Want to get followed by Donald Trump on Twitter? Change your name to Trump.
As of midnight Tuesday, Pacific Time, the Republican nominee for president follows just 42 accounts on Twitter. But nearly 45 percent, 18 in all, carry The Donald's surname in some form in the handle.
There are members of the real-estate developer's family, including his daughter Ivanka Trump, son Donald Trump Jr. and wife Melania Trump. And institutions run by family members, like the Eric Trump Foundation, which raises money for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
The man who pledges to make America great again also follows the tweets of hotels that bear his signature eponymous titling. There's Trump Hotel Panama, which tweets bilingually, as well as the Trump SoHo, Trump Los Angeles and Trump Waikiki (it looks stunning).
There's also Trump New York, which, in a style befitting its namesake, boasts, "Most hotels give you a room. We give you an ENTIRE City. #LivetheLife."
Politicians, athletes and celebrities are expected to follow fewer people than have followers. But the mismatch is strikingly pronounced with Trump, who is followed by more than 9.89 million people. President Barack Obama, the man whose job Trump wants, follows more people, 72, and has fewer followers, 9.11 million, on his @POTUS account. Same with competitor Hillary Clinton, who follows 675 accounts and is followed by 7.48 million.
The Trump campaign didn't respond to a request for comment as to how the candidate chooses who he follows.
If you're not related to Trump or an entity in his empire, honing an affiliation with Fox News might be an effective way to catch his attention. He loves Fox News, as this recent tweet attests:
Trump follows Fox Nation, Fox & Friends, and on-air personalities Bill O'Reilly, Greta Van Susteren and Sean Hannity, among others.
(Disclosure: CBS, the parent of CNET News, owns CBS News, which competes with Fox News.)
Sure there are a handful of non-Trumps in the mix. Trump follows golf great Gary Player, who's spoken fondly of the real-estate developer... on the Fox Business Network.
Trump also follows YouTube personalities Diamond and Silk®, sisters from North Carolina who are outspoken in their support of the reality TV star's political ambitions.
He also follows Earvin "Magic" Johnson, even though the businessman and former Los Angeles Lakers great is a supporter of Hillary Clinton, Trump's expected opponent in the presidential race. (Check out these TMZ videos in which the sharp-dressed executive says Hillz is the "the best choice for America" and throws his support to the Democrat as he exits a Trump hotel.)
Of course, the list of people Trump follows isn't static.
Back in January, Trump followed 49 Twitter accounts, according to Mediaite. Those included Shawn Johnson East, an Olympic gold medalist and alum of Trump reality TV franchise "The Celebrity Apprentice," and Leeza Gibbons, a broadcast journalist and winner of, you guessed it, "The Celebrity Apprentice." Both have now been dropped.
(Trump still follows Mark Burnett, the producer of "The Apprentice" franchise.)
And Trump adds to the list, though infrequently. In fact, Trump added a name just last week.
It's Mike Pence, his vice presidential choice. Perhaps Pence will trim the 1,200 or so accounts he follows.