March 01, 2023

Elon Musk: Tesla's CEO reveals both the public and private on Instagram [Gallery]

Much has been made of Elon Musk's prolific use of Twitter. But what about the Tesla CEO's Instagram account? W Magazine* reports: "You might think that the personal Instagram of a billionaire tech giant such as Elon Musk would be the epitome of curated social media savvy. Plus, his mother, Maye Musk is an IMG model with 40,000 followers of her own. But instead, his account is perhaps the only evidence that he's actually a (relatively) average human being like the rest of us—one who also happens to be the mind behind SpaceX, Tesla, the Hyperloop, and someone who, if all goes according to plan, will eventually live on Mars."

Above: Elon Musk with girlfriend and son in Sydney (Instagram: @elonmusk)

On Twitter, Musk is closing in on an astounding 9 million followers, but on Instagram, he has just "over 1.4 million followers... [and] it wasn't until recently that his account caught the public's attention when he announced his budding relationship with the actress Amber Heard. The two revealed that they were dating with an uncharacteristically earnest photo of them at a romantic dinner. Wine glasses cover the table, her arm rests elegantly on his shoulder, and the faint stain of lipstick can be seen his cheek."

Above: Musk's new girlfriend, actress Amber Heard, gets 'cheeky' with her new man (Instagram: @elonmusk)

Musk has proved masterful at communicating on Twitter. But his approach on Instagram is quite different: "What makes Musk's Instagram account so compelling is its odd combination of the public and the private. In one photo, you'll find him taking an awkward mirror selfie like someone who hasn't yet discovered self-timer. And in another, he shares footage of the earth from high above in the SpaceX droneship."

Above: Is that Elon Musk taking a selfie? (Instagram: @elonmusk)

Much of Musk's Instagram posts appear to be tongue-in-cheek. After all, "Perhaps Musk is too busy saving humans from extinction to worry about his social media profile. He also doesn't tend to agree with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, so maybe he's not leaning in for a reason. Or perhaps, as his captions and bio suggests, ("Where are the aliens?"), he's just far too advanced to take any of this seriously. Either way, there's a lot to learn about Musk from his account."