@justinbieber beats @ladygaga on Twitter, but women still rule

Social media around the world are reporting the mostly uninteresting news that the number of Twitter followers of Canadian teen pop star Justin Bieber (33,342,686) surpassed that of American cultural oddity Lady Gaga (33,335,847).

Further evidence of America’s slipping global influence? Probably not.

Maybe the most interesting fact revealed by a glance at the marketing arms race among the 10 most influentual Twitter users (or the teams of assistants working for them, at any rate) is the fact that seven of them are women. Bieber and Barack Obama are the only men up there there. YouTube, neither male nor female, rounds out the 10, though evidence suggests more men are on the site than women.

In general, women have been found to tweet more and to recieve more tweets than men, and they have a majority over male users. That certain social media platforms have more appeal to one gender or the other is not news, but it’s fun to look at the numbers.