Trump Least Likely To Hit 'Follow' Button on Twitter

(Reuters) -- The millions of Twitter users following Donald Trump shouldn't expect a "follow back" from the Republican presidential front-runner anytime soon.

Trump's campaign account @realDonaldTrump has nearly 6 million Twitter followers, the most of any candidate running for president. But he is picky about who he follows, with just 49 accounts listed as of Friday. That means he has the highest ratio of followers to those he is following, in both the Republican and Democratic fields.

In contrast, Ted Cruz, the U.S. senator from Texas who has emerged as Trump's strongest rival, follows nearly 14,000 accounts on Twitter and has 755,000 followers, according to his profile as of Friday.

Trump On Twitter

The exclusivity underscores how Trump primarily uses Twitter to broadcast his message as opposed to engaging in a back and forth with users, experts in digital strategy said. While other campaigns use a similar approach, Trump commands the most attention on social media.

Trump's pickiness may indicate a surprising strategy for the freewheeling Republican front-runner: Playing it safe when it comes to pledging his Twitter allegiance with a "follow."

Candidates can't pick and choose their followers, but they have control over when to click the follow button.

"There is more risk in who you follow," said Scott Talan, a communications professor at American University who teaches social media strategy. "If you’re actively following someone, you’re assuming it's not going to be some religious extremist ... or a prisoner with a record."

And, while some Republican candidates follow each other, Trump follows none of them.

The accounts Trump monitors include those of his children and several hotel properties. Also on the eclectic list are musician Steven Tyler, basketball great Magic Johnson, Vince McMahon, chairman and CEO of WWE Inc, and sisters Lynette “Diamond” Hardaway and Rochelle “Silk” Richardson, former Democrats who now stump for Trump and tweet under the handle @DiamondandSilk.

Despite Trump's highly public battle with Fox News over anchor Megyn Kelly's role as a moderator in last week's Republican debate, Fox shows or news personalities such as Sean Hannity account for better than 10 percent of the handles he follows. Kelly, not surprisingly, did not make the list, but the Fox handles still add up to a larger bloc than any outside of Trump's family or business.

Hannity and other Fox presenters are also widely followed by Trump's rivals for the GOP presidential nomination.