Ashton Kutcher & CNN Race to 1 Million Twitter Followers

By Ben Haber

April 15th, 2009

When Ashton Kutcher realized both he and CNN were very close to having 1 million Twitter followers, he was amazed by two things:

• That so many people wanted to follow him (currently 884,289)
• He had almost as many followers as CNN (currently 935,069)

This led to an impromptu challenge from Kutcher for the Twitter universe: If he beats CNN to 1 million followers, he will “ding dong ditch” Ted Turner’s house:

To Kutcher’s surprise, CNN put Larry King in front of this challenge, who told Kutcher that he didn’t stand a chance against the massive network:

Kutcher, then realizing that CNN was ready to take him on, had two very interesting observations about Twitter and social media:

• He found it amazing that one person can have as big a voice as an entire media company (on Twitter).
• After being invited to join Larry King Live to discuss this Twitter showdown, he noted that this is an Internet saga that should be discussed online, not on television.

With both parties closing in on 1 million followers (but CNN still in the lead) it looks like Ted Turner’s house is saved.  However, Kutcher has made his point that certain individuals can be just as powerful (if not more) on Twitter as a large news organization.

Entry Filed under: Mainstream Media,Twitter