Source: Time
For our third annual roundup of the most influential people on the Internet, TIME sized up contenders by looking at their global impact on social media and their overall ability to drive news. Here’s who made this year’s unranked list:
Chrissy Teigen
Some of the most common words returned in Google searches of Teigen’s name are “real,” “relatable” and “all of us” — not exactly what you’d expect for a supermodel, bestselling cookbook author and TV host who’s married to a Grammy-winning musician. That’s a testament to how well the 31-year-old has bridged the celebrity-civilian gap by using her vast social media platform — nearly 20 million followers between Twitter and Instagram — to share unfiltered missives about everything from plastic surgery to the unbearable duration of the Oscars. And following the birth of her daughter Luna in 2016, she has been particularly candid about motherhood, sharing her struggles with postpartum depression and shutting down a never-ending stream of mommy shamers. —Eliza Berman
Matt Drudge
For nearly two decades, Drudge and his scrappy, sensationalist website, The Drudge Report, have wielded outsize influence on the political news cycle. This past year was no exception. Not only is the site drawing more readers than ever — it’s got well over a billion monthly page views — but one of them is sitting in the Oval Office. In early June, shortly after a van struck pedestrians on London Bridge, President Trump retweeted a Drudge Report missive alleging the van had “mow[ed] down 20 people” and there were “fears of [a] new terror attack,” apparently confirming speculation before British authorities had a chance to weigh in. Meanwhile, Drudge, who first made his name in the Clinton Administration, still has the ear of grassroots conservatives; his links are a major source for traffic at many right-leaning news outlets (and some mainstream ones, too). —Ryan Teague Beckwith
Categories: Celebrities, Media, Social Media, The Muslim Times