MOST FOLLOWED CELEBRITIES ON INSTAGRAM

Social media has become a tool for activism as it is an intersection of technology, culture and global  interaction. Reports across the world say that Instagram happens to be the fastest growing social media site at the moment with more than 400million users. However, most users have popular accounts which they follow for different reasons. JOAN OMIONAWELE examines the 10 most followed Nigerian celebrities and reasons  they drive traffic to their pages daily.

Nigerian popstar, David Adeleke, also known as Davido leads the league of the most followed Nigerian celebrities on  Instagram with over 2.3million followers,  while Ayo Balogun, aka Wizkid follows with about 1.9million followers. This doesn’t come as a surprise as both controversial artistes have been involved in a kind of competition spunned by their various fans.
 

Wizkid has been involved in various collaborations with international superstars, Drake and Chris Brown. The highlight of Davido’s career has been signing the Sony deal with the global record label as well as his fracas with his baby mama, Sophie Momodu, which got tongues wagging and got everyone interested in how the case would be resolved.  Also, from time to time, these two superstars dole out money to their fans.

Up next is Don Jazzy who has a whopping 1.8 million followers, while Nollywood actress and Nigeria’s top songstress, Genevieve Nnaji and Tiwa Savage are next with 1.7million followers each. Don Jazzy is arguably the biggest producer in the country while Genevieve has been credited for her great acting skills. Tiwa Savage, the Mavin first lady and arguably Nigeria’s biggest female artiste, has won various reputable awards, including the Mamas, Headies, etc

Surprisingly, popular actress-cum-producer, Funke Akindele comes next close with 1.5million followers while reggae dancehall artiste, Patoranking and Peter Okoye of the P-Square group follow with 1.4million followers respectively.

Following closely are Rita Dominic, Olamide and Korede Bello who have 1.2million followers each. They have fans who adore them and sing their praises on Instagram daily and it is shocking  to know that just after two or three seconds these celebrities have posted pictures, they have over 5000 likes on each picture.

2face Idibia, as well as Phyno also have 1million plus followers as they too use the application frequently. It is worthy of note that Basketmouth is the only comedian with over 1million followers who engages his followers everyday

Mercy Aigbe Gentry, Nollywood actress and fashion icon has 915,000 followers while Nollywood diva, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has about 869,000 followers, followed by Dbanj, who has 800,000 followers.

 

Reasons for huge following

When Saturday Tribune sought to know the basis of this huge following, some Instagram users affirmed that they follow their favourite celebrities for many reasons some of which are for latest fashion, interaction, fame, money, extravagant lifestyle, craft, attraction, talent /popularity.

 As a matter of fact, IGuser @sopedonald said, “I just love Davido because he is too talented and of course, he is O.B.O (Omo Baba Olowo) who will not like to follow him? Sometimes he gives out money to his fans randomly and is loved by all. I also love the way he  takes care of his daughter, Imade.”

Saturday Tribune further gathered that controversy is attractive as these celebrities gain huge following whenever there is a scandal or bad press. It is almost as if their following  doubles. Every fan scampers to their pages to get a scoop on the latest about them.

For Okorocha Chimezie, “Wizkid just does it for me every time. Since 2009, I have been his huge fan and I am interested in his success, especially as he collaborates with international superstars”. He continues: “Do I need to remind you of Don Jazzy who gave my friend, 50,000 naira for just putting up the Mavin logo as his Instagram profile picture? I’m hoping to get lucky one day, so I open his page first thing every morning to see if it will be my lucky day” he told Saturday Tribune.”

“Funke Akindele makes me laugh, especially with hard times as these in our country, Jenifa’s Diaries keeps me going, she posts these videos on Instagram and we her fans have a good laugh all the time,” said Victoria Oladoyinbo.

Although Mercy Aigbe is yet to have up to 1million followers, one of her fans @promisechukwu said: “I just love her sense of style. I stay glued to her page to get the latest styles and stay updated with fashion.”

Other international superstars are also leading as hollywoodlife.com reports that Selena Gomez has over 82million unique followers while her best friend, Taylor Swift, comes next with 80million followers, while Kim Kardiashian also has 73million followers, which is a million over top hip-hop star, Beyonce Knowles, who has over 72million followers.