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As if I haven't written enough about social media this week...

If you haven't kept up with the news, Ashton Kutcher earlier this week challenged CNN to reach the coveted 1,000,000 follower mark on Twitter first. No single Twitter account has ever reached that many followers, but it would seem that both Ashton Kutcher and CNN will be reaching that mark in less than 24 hours from this writing. (It's about noon Hong Kong Time as I'm writing this.)

Ashton (@aplusk) has pledged to give his 1,000,000th follower a copy of the popular video game Guitar Hero, plus donate 10,000 mosquito bed nets to the Malaria No More charity. He's also promised to ring the bell on Ted Turner's home if he wins the race.

Soon after Ashton threw the gauntlet, CNN's Larry King gamely issued a video statement accepting Ashton's challenge, even going as far as saying “We will crush you,” and letting the young actor (and the rest of the oblivious world, apparently) that Ted Turner no longer runs CNN.

What's funny is that CNN wasn't even running the CNN Breaking News Twitter account (@cnnbrk) when Ashton issued the challenge. It was being run by San Francisco-based James Cox, who very recently sold the account to CNN for an undisclosed sum. I'm sure he's very happy.

To make things a bit more interesting, EA Sports just upped the ante by offering to include Ashton's 1,000,000th follower in their upcoming Sims 3 game, as well as giving them a copy of every game it makes in 2009. This should give Ashton a boost in the race, probably leaving Britney Spears – who also jumped in – in the dust.

Oh, this just in. Ashton Kutcher's account just passed CNN in the follower race. As of this writing, he has 990,051 followers, a wafer-thin lead over CNN Breaking News's 989,991. That's 60 followers. Dude!

Now, I'm not a compulsive Twitter user and I have to admit I don't have a compelling need to recruit Twitter followers for myself. Nope. I didn't invent the wheel, and I have not discovered the cure for male pattern baldness. Really. I don't have any secret formula here. Those who follow me on Twitter, I follow in return.

Anyway, for now, I'm probably going to sit back and watch this race as it grinds to the finish. Who am I rooting for? I think I'll go with CNN (shows you my age). I like Ashton, though I am secretly hoping CNN punks him for taking Demi away from all of us.

OK, I'm kidding. This is Chris Gomez wishing you all a good weekend.

UPDATE:
Apr 16, 2009, 9:32 AM (GMT +0800)

Damn!

So much for supporting CNN. Anyway, congrats to the winning side. I'm gonna stop watching Larry King for a month! ;)

Reference Twitter message links from CNN Breaking News:

• Congrats @aplusk. Ashton Kutcher is the first twitter account to reach 1MM followers.    - Twitter link -

• Ashton Kutcher is first to reach 1 million followers in Twitter contest with CNN.    - Twitter link -

Reference Twitter message links from Ashton Kutcher:

• Victory is ours!!!!!!!!    - Twitter link -

• for anyone who missed it here's the vid on the victory  http://bit.ly/3UpiEF    - Twitter link -