Lady Gaga earns $30 million (£18.9 million) through her Twitter account, according to reports.

The Wall Street Journal claims that the ‘Born This Way’ star has built up such a strong relationship with her followers on the social media site that it is worth one third of the reported $90 million (£56.9 million) that she made last year.

Marketing manager John Bonini, who works for Impact Branding & Design, claimed that the publicity and direct connection the singer has developed with her admirers through the site helps boost her earning potential, as well as ensuring that her fanbase purchase her music rather than download it illegally. He added:

“She really engages them and re-tweets stuff they say as if she was one of them.”

Gaga’s popularity on Twitter is unparalleled – earlier this month (March 6), she became the first person to gain 20 million followers on the site, putting her ahead of Justin Bieber (18.1 million), Katy Perry (15.75 million), Shakira (14.56 million) and Rihanna (14.49 million). US President Barack Obama, meanwhile, is only in eighth place, with 12.84 million followers.

Previously, Gaga also became the first person to amass 10 million followers in May last year, and 18 million in January of this year.

Last month (February 24), Lady Gaga used her Twitter account to respond after her ‘Born This Way’ LP was dubbed the “most pretentious album ever” by NME. She wrote: “Oh the irony of winning “Most Pretentious Album Ever” from none other than NME. *eyeroll* I might laugh forever + then return to narcissism.”

It seems unlikely that Gaga will react so publicly to negative publicity in the future, though – earlier this week, she revealed that she is planning a media blackout once her interview with Oprah Winfrey is broadcast this week (March 18), as she claims she has nothing else to say to the press.

-nme.com