--- title: Why Taye Diggs Is Following People on Twitter description: The actor reveals why he went from 24 to 45.5k followers in two months canonical: https://time.com/2838879/taye-diggs-reveals-why-he-suddenly-started-following-45000-strangers-on-twitter/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-06T18:12:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:29.197Z og:title: Taye Diggs Reveals Why He Suddenly Started Following 45K Strangers on Twitter og:description: The actor reveals why he went from 24 to 45.5k followers in two months og:url: https://time.com/2838879/taye-diggs-reveals-why-he-suddenly-started-following-45000-strangers-on-twitter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Taye Diggs Reveals Why He Suddenly Started Following 45K Strangers on Twitter twitter:description: The actor reveals why he went from 24 to 45.5k followers in two months twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Taye Diggs Reveals Why He Suddenly Started Following 45,000 Strangers on Twitter by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Jun 6, 2014 6:12 PM CUT by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Jun 6, 2014 6:12 PM CUT In April, actor Taye Diggs followed [24 people on Twitter](http://www.today.com/tech/taye-diggs-twitter-following-spree-2D79699270 "undefined")—which was 23 more than Kanye West, but still pretty diminutive. Two months later, he was up to 45,500 followers, causing [joy, confusion, and calls to investigate](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/05/16/what-is-up-with-actor-taye-diggss-out-of-control-twitter-following-sprees/ "undefined") from strangers across the Twitterverse. [Journalists especially.](http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/06/06/taye%5Fdiggs%5Fon%5Ftwitter%5Factor%5Ffinally%5Fexplains%5Fwhy%5Fhe%5Fs%5Ffollowing%5Fyou%5Fon%5Ftwitter.html "undefined") > [](https://twitter.com/ForrestW/status/457243561696972800) After months of speculation, Diggs went on the [_TODAY Show_](http://www.today.com/video/today/55345498#55345498 "undefined")Friday to set the record straight regarding his follow spree. And it was an answer we all should have guessed: he hired a social media expert. “I mean I’m embarrassed,” Diggs said. “Everybody was telling me I needed to have more of a presence on Twitter, so I met with this dude that deals in social network.” Diggs gave him a list of people he was interested in—from athletes to politicians—and the social media manager started following them so the actor’s Twitter feed could function as an RSS reader. (Disclosure: this reporter is followed by Diggs and refuses to let this revelation diminish her excitement.) Now the real question is — what’s Montel’s reason for the follow surge? > [](https://twitter.com/neetzan/status/458296166254645249) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2838879/taye-diggs-reveals-why-he-suddenly-started-following-45000-strangers-on-twitter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2838879/taye-diggs-reveals-why-he-suddenly-started-following-45000-strangers-on-twitter/"},"headline":"Taye Diggs Reveals Why He Suddenly Started Following 45,000 Strangers on Twitter","datePublished":"2014-06-06T18:12:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:29.197Z","description":"You can probably guess why","url":"https://time.com/2838879/taye-diggs-reveals-why-he-suddenly-started-following-45000-strangers-on-twitter/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Social Media","celebrities","today show","twitter"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2838879/taye-diggs-reveals-why-he-suddenly-started-following-45000-strangers-on-twitter/","name":"Taye Diggs Reveals Why He Suddenly Started Following 45,000 Strangers on Twitter"}}]}] ```