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Rihanna, BTS among “TIME's” “25 Most Influential People on the Internet”

Getty Images via ABCRihanna and K-pop superstars BTS are two of the most powerful online entities right now, according to TIME magazine.

The magazine is out with its list of the “25 Most Influential People on the Internet,” and BTS, who are enjoying their first major U.S. hit with “Fake Love,” are one of the few music acts included.  The seven-member Korean group boasts one of music’s most motivated and active social fanbases, the “BTS Army,” as well as 50 million followers across their various socials. 

Thanks to their social media presence, the group spent more than 89 weeks on top of Billboard’s Social 50 Chart, and won Billboard’s Top Social Artist award for the second year running.

While Rihanna has her own devoted social fanbase with a military name — the Rihanna Navy — it’s her Instagram posts that are super-powerful.  How powerful?  Earlier this year, she used her Instagram story to criticize an ad on Snapchat that used her picture to poke fun at domestic violence.  Snapchat promptly lost $800 million of its value. 

TIME also notes that in May, Rihanna posted photos of herself in a bathing suit with hair on her legs, inspiring a wave of fans to declare that they would no longer shave.  But where Ri-Ri’s true online power lies, TIME says, is with her ability to listen.  She developed her successful makeup line Fenty Beauty after hearing from fans how hard it is for people of color to find appropriate cosmetics.

TIME also names Kanye West as one of the Internet’s most influential, because of his ability to create headlines and outrage with every tweet.  HQ Trivia host Scott Rogowsky, actress Busy Philipps and the dude who started the Yanny vs. Laurel craze are among the others making TIME’s list.

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