Drawing on the twitter feeds of modern ‘thought leaders’ in the field of science outreach and (inevitably) politics, this paper considers the requirement for a synthesis of early, proximal forms of leadership with later, distal approaches to meet the needs of leadership in the digital age. The ability for leaders to influence large numbers of people, at the same time as being required to respond to direct feedback and challenge requires, it is proposed, a new form of digitally-mediated proximal leadership. Again, with current political leaders very much in mind, this raises the question of the purposes to which such extensive influence might be put. Parallels with organisational leadership in the digital age are drawn.