Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher is locked in a furious battle with CNN. But the two sides aren’t rowing over defamation or privacy issues: it’s a fight to get 1 million Twitter followers.

The battle began when Kutcher noted the possibility he’d make it to a million first and encouraged potential followers to sign up by promising to “ding dong ditch” Ted Turner on camera if he achieved the feat – that is to say, ring his doorbell then run away. Showing a sharp appreciation for differing audiences, Kutcher later promised to buy 10,000 anti-mosquito nets to help prevent malaria in Africa if he won.

At the time of writing, Kutcher had 945,389 followers, while CNN had 961,878. However, those who’ve crunched the numbers (yes, such people exist) believe Kutcher is attracting followers at a quicker rate and should actually beat CNN quite comfortably. The only other potential candidate is Britney Spears on 928, 374.

The CNN account only recently came under the control of the cable network after it took it over from a private citizen, James Cox. (CNN had its own separate account which currently has just 64,000 followers.) CNN hasn’t technically bought Cox’s account as Twitter rules prevent such sales; instead it’s hired Cox as a consultant and is paying him a hefty salary. CNN’s is the only corporate account among the 20 most-followed, with all the others belonging to celebrities (or their cats).

Electronic Arts has jumped on the bandwagon: if Kutcher wins the race, whomever becomes his millionth follower will be offered the chance to feature as a character in the upcoming game The Sims 3.

While the race to a million is arguably meaningless, Kutcher is billing it as an important milestone in social media: “”For one person to actually have the ability to broadcast to as many people as a major media network. I think sort of signifies the turning of the tide from traditional news outlets to social media outlets.”

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Entry was posted on Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 11:40 am under Social Media, Web2.0.

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