Celebrity Popularity: Words or Connections?

What makes a celebrity famous on social media? Is it the words they use or the people they know? Researchers looked into this question by studying tweets from 471 Indian celebrities. They wanted to see what factors influence a celebrity's follower count. First, they examined the social connections of these celebrities. They created two networks to map out how these celebrities interact with each other. By analyzing these networks, they found some links between social connectivity and follower count. However, the connections alone didn't tell the whole story. Next, they dove into the language used in the tweets. They looked at the words, sentence structure, and overall readability. They found that the language used had a stronger impact on follower count than social connections. Tweets with more positive words, simpler language, and better readability tended to attract more followers. When they combined both social connectivity and language features, they could predict a celebrity's future follower count with even greater accuracy. This suggests that both factors play a role, but language might be more important. Interestingly, celebrities with more followers tend to use words related to friends and family. They also use more positive language and have better writing skills. This might not be a coincidence. The way celebrities communicate can influence how many people follow them.