More than 12 million people are following Justin Bieber on Twitter

Justin Bieber has become the only male microblogger to surpass the 12 million follower milestone. He joins Lady Gaga, whose fan count is just below 12.9 million, as the only two microbloggers in the world who have exceeded the record of 12 million followers.

Chinese actress Yao Chen is not far behind, however, with close to 11 million followers on Sina’s rival microblogging platform Weibo.

Fellow Weibo user and Taiwanese TV host Dee Hsu is edging further ahead of US President Barack Obama on the global ranking. Barack Obama currently sports 9.78 million fans while Dee Hsu has 9.88 million.   

Chinese actress Yang Mi has raced past 8 million fans and Chinese sports commentator Huang Jianxiang crossed the 7 million fan mark during the week.

Last week Lady Gaga used her Twitter account to post about the highlights of her week: “I am so excited to be OPENING THE VMA'S this year. Pinch myself everyday. So happy you love the new video too! What a week!” and President Obama called on Congress to “put aside partisan differences and act on steps to get our nation back to work.”

In September 2010, Twitter had 175 million registered users, while Sina reports that Weibo had more than 200 million registered users in August 2011.

Most popular people on Twitter:

1. Lady Gaga (12,877,403 followers)
2. Justin Bieber (12,095,676)
3. Barack Obama (9,786,842)
4. Katy Perry (9,335,287)
5. Kim Kardashian (9,244,519)
6. Britney Spears (9,146,353)
7. Shakira (7,863,938)
8. Taylor Swift (7,635,347)
9. Ashton Kutcher (7,475,232)
10. Ellen DeGeneres (7,385,204)

Most popular people on Sina's microblog (Weibo):

1. Yao Chen (10,918,561 followers)
2. Dee Hsu (9,881,934)
3. Kevin Tsai (8,745,645)
4. Xie Na (8,482,882)
5. Zhao Wei (8,346,602)
6. Jung Kyung Ho (8,336,745)
7. Yang Mi (8,242,311)
8. Li Bingbing (7,932,872)
9. Chen Kun (7,562,718)
10. Huang Jianxiang (7,138,411)

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