John Cena doesn’t just want millions of people following him on social media — he wants to follow millions of them right back. In fact, the WWE legend says the only thing stopping him from following way more people on X is the platform itself.
Speaking to BuzzFeed UK, Cena was asked about the massive number of accounts he follows. He explained that the whole thing actually started while he was in Kensington filming Fast 9, when he noticed how obsessed people had become with bragging about their follower counts.
“They cut me off. I want to follow everybody. You used to only be able to — before it transformed names into X — follow a thousand people a day. And I actually started doing that here in Kensington. I was shooting Fast 9, and I’m like, ‘You know what? People are bragging about their followers. I get that — like, so many people are paying attention to me.’”
Cena had already taken a completely different approach with Instagram. He deliberately follows nobody there because his account is basically a collection of unexplained images, and he doesn’t want who he follows influencing how people interpret whatever he posts.
“I had done an experiment with Instagram where I don’t follow anyone. And I also post my face. It’s kind of like walking through an art studio without the little card for explanation or without the artist holding your hand. And I didn’t want to follow anyone, not because, like, I’m too good for it. I didn’t want to bias the meaning of the pictures.”
But when it came to Twitter, now X, Cena decided to go completely in the opposite direction. Instead of bragging about how many people wanted to hear from him, he liked the idea of bragging about how many people were willing to let him listen.
“Because I didn’t follow anybody on Instagram and I was following a bunch of folks on Twitter, I’m like, ‘No. Follow everybody.’ Like, I want to brag about the people who allow me in their conversation.”
There’s also a practical reason behind it. Cena follows all kinds of different people because he wants to see opinions and conversations that might be completely different from his own.
“It can be a pretty gamey environment. And I follow a wide range of folks because if I want to learn and if I want to see how people think, you’ve got to be open to listening to their conversation.”
And apparently one million accounts isn’t nearly enough for Cena. He joked that he’d probably be following around 12 million people by now if X would actually let him move at the pace he wants.
“Now with X, you can only follow, like, eight people a day. That’s why I’m stuck at a million. I wish I was at, like, 12 million right now. Every day you get on there and chip away and chip away, and hopefully that number will go up. But, like, I’m still working.”
Cena also knows that getting a random follow from John Cena can be a pretty cool moment for somebody. If clicking one button can make a fan smile or give them something to brag about, he figures there’s no reason not to do it.
“There’s a lot of nuance there. People want to be heard. If they’ve got a message to send, they’ve got a voice that they believe in. A follow from me — it feels good, it makes them smile.”
For Cena, it’s a ridiculously easy way to give a little something back to people who have spent years supporting him. It doesn’t cost him anything, but he knows that tiny notification could mean a lot more to the person receiving it.
“This comment, this is like a subtle brag about, like, ‘Yo, I got it.’ If you can help give somebody a smile or just a little bit of kindness or just a little bit of energy for the day just by clicking a button — the follow — yeah, all right, cool.”
Cena’s social-media strategy might look completely random from the outside, but there’s clearly a method behind it. While Instagram is deliberately kept disconnected and mysterious, X is basically the opposite — Cena wants to hear from as many people as the platform will allow.
What do you think about John Cena wanting to follow millions more people on social media? Let us know in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
