Cristiano Ronaldo became, this Monday, 21, the first to reach the milestone of 500 million followers. Including his followers on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, where he also has official accounts, the star is the most followed person in the world on any social network, being the first person to do so since the creation of the platform.
If he doesn’t win the Ballon d’Or, Ronaldo ends up surpassing Messi on social media, as the Argentine star is the second most followed person, with 376 million followers on Instagram, completing the podium is North American Kylie Jenner, with 372 million followers.
However, despite this mark, Ronaldo does not have the biggest Instagram account. This merit belongs to Instagram itself, which has 569 million followers.
It is well known that Ronaldo’s enormous reach on social networks has earned him an extra ‘salary’, much higher than what he earns for playing football. In February, when it reached 400 million followers, a study cited by daily mail realized that the Portuguese would earn around 1.9 million euros per publication – and his salary, at Manchester United, is close to 600 thousand euros a week.
One of the most recent ways for Ronaldo to profit from Instagram is through NFT (‘Non Fungible Tokens’ or ‘Token’ Não Fungível), digital assets that are registered as unique and unreplicable through a technology known as ‘blockchain’, and are only acquired through cryptocurrencies.
In recent days, the photograph with Lionel Messi, in an advertising campaign for the luxury brand Louis Vitton, has also been widely shared on all social networks. On Instagram, the publication has almost 36 million ‘likes’ and is one of the most voted ‘posts’ ever.
The footballer is in Qatar, with the Portuguese national team, where he is preparing for the first game of the World Cup.