Well, I haven't progressed very far and have now had to look up some details as I was already floundering due to lack of facts. The person with the most followers is Katy Perry with 107 million reading her posts; coming a close second is Justin Bieber (104m). Many of the top 50 are musicians and/or Americans and Barack Obama is up there with 101m. Donald Trump has about half that and, in fact, 83% of the world leaders have a Twitter account. Maybe they find it a good way of communicating, but I just can't find a tweet significant or trustworthy. The highest representative for Great Britain on Twitter is BBC Breaking News (38m) and Real Madrid scores for Spain at 31m.
Twitter as a verb means to taunt; I wonder whether that's a coincidence. The distinctive small-bird logo may be the reason for using 'tweet' as a verb, meaning to post a message, but is generally used as a noun for the note of a small bird. I also think of the noun 'twit', meaning a fool - surely that's not how the name Twitter developed!
Starting as a simple communication vehicle, Twitter is now big business and the company generates enough income from advertising to make a profit. Its users can also benefit. As well as keeping in touch with their fans, celebrities with a large following are able to enhance their income by sponsoring products, and companies are willing to pay a large sum for the privilege, knowing that their sales will increase. A single tweet can generate $50,000 for a successful celebrity.
If I want to know the news, I'll watch television, listen to the radio, or look at a newspaper, either online or printed, but I don't want to read the inane details and thoughts of an individual to the extent that Twitter would give me. Perhaps that's why I'm not a Twitter user, although 330 million people around the world are active users and would probably disagree with me. Notably, 1.3 billion people have set up an account, but 40% have never sent a tweet and, of those that have, 390 million have no followers.
So, I'll conclude by admitting that facts are essential for a balanced article. However, as for Twitter, I haven't convinced myself to open an account and still don't understand why a large number have. In fact, I personally feel rather sad for the individuals who follow the lives of the famous and not-so famous by their tweets, but will accept it as a way that today's society chooses to communicate.