The Funny Thing You Never Noticed About KFC's Twitter Account

Social media is a great place for fast food giants to have a bit of fun. McDonald's, for instance — which has 4.5 million followers and is following 13.6k accounts — might use social media as a launchpad for corporate and product releases, but it can particularly entertaining as well, since the fast food giant has been known to play games with its followers such as changing the McDonald's Twitter handle as a joke.

But no matter how cheeky other fast food companies can be, few can own social media the way KFC did, because the fried chicken giant possibly won the Twitter stakes even before the other fast food companies got started. 

We don't know how long it took for one social media user to work out how — and why — KFC chose to follow who it did but the answer, once it became obvious, was elementary. In a tweet that was first written in 2017 but which has aged very well, the user revealed "@KFC follows 11 people. Those 11 people? 5 Spice Girls and 6 guys named Herb. 11 Herbs & Spices. I need time to process this."

Now, it might sound like a hoax, but Mashed did the digging and found that nothing has changed since then. KFC has stuck to its guns and kept the number of accounts it follows on Twitter at 11: the five Spice Girls and 6 blue-tick folks named Herb. This is of course a playful reference to the secret signature KFC spice blend of 11 herbs and spices.

And what of the user that blew the whistle on KFC's not-so-secret social media move? Time says his name is Mike Edgette, and the company acknowledged his effort by having a piece of artwork done, which features Edgette being given a piggyback ride by Colonel Harlan Sanders himself as they travel through the wilderness. A grateful Edgette shared the artwork on social media, captioning it with "Dreams DO come true," alongside the hashtag GiddyUpColonel. He also added, "Thanks @kfc."

Perhaps in a bid to ensure he doesn't fade into internet obscurity, Edgette's viral tweet is pinned to the top of his feed, and the image of him riding piggyback on Colonel Sanders is his profile photo.