Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indo-Canadian YouTube sensation Lilly Singh have made TIME’s list of the 30 Most Influential People on the Internet. For its second annual list, TIME said it sized up contenders by looking at their global impact on social media and their overall ability to drive news.
Acknowledging Modi’s huge social media following, with more than 18 million Twitter followers and over 32 million Facebook likes, the list described Modi as an “Internet star.” It hailed the Indian leader’s unconventional use of social media to “break news” and “conduct diplomacy,” mentioning in particular Modi’s announcement on Twitter of his visit to Pakistan last year.
But it also pointed out the faux pas made by Modi when he wished Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani a happy birthday on the wrong day. Last year Modi was among TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the world along with scoring a spot in their inaugural list of the 30 Most Influential People on the internet.
About Singh, TIME noted that the “Indo-Canadian vlogger is rapidly becoming one of the biggest stars on YouTube, both on and off-screen.” It added that as her “alter ego Superwoman, she is equal parts funny and motivational, which has helped her amass more than 8 million subscribers and over 1.1 billion total views.”
Earlier this year, Singh, who is popularly known as Superwoman, made the Forbes’ Top-10 list of Top-Earning YouTube Stars. In September 2015, the 26-year-old video star also won “Best First-Person Series,” beating out four other video stars, at VH1’s “5th Annual Streamy Awards” in Los Angeles.
The YouTube personality acknowledged the honor in an Instagram post stating: “What an honor! Thank you! Hopefully people are influenced to also wear sweat pants all day like me. Then I wouldn’t be considered lazy. I would be trendy. GOALS.”
