So, how are you celebrating the giant leap forward humanity took this morning? Or haven’t you heard? Didn’t you set up an alert to be sent to your phone at the precise instant when Ashton Kutcher became the first ever Twitterer to accrue 1,000,000 followers, leaving CNN Breaking News in the dust? It happened at 2:13 a.m. ET, according to the real-time tracker that the Huffington Post actually set up for this event. Make no mistake, this was a very, very important moment for us all. Take it from Ashton himself: "Today we decide if we want gatekeepers for social thought or democratization of media." And: "Why R they pushing so hard if this doesn’t mean anything? It’s a changing of the guard." Also: "I feel like I’m directing an episode of punk’d." I think George Washington once said that all great revolutions feel like directing an episode of Punk’d.
Of course, CNN also hit the crucial 1,000,000-follower mark just half an hour after Ashton, and they’re back to tweeting about Swedish legal rulings and stuff. So I’m not sure what that says about the whole "changing of the guard" thing. Maybe I’ll be able to understand this historic turning point better when Ashton goes on Oprah today to talk about Twitter. (Oprah’s even rumored to be getting a Twitter account of her own. How will we possibly be able to measure the importance of that? A race to 10 million followers?!) Or maybe you can help explain it to me. Who were you rooting for in this epic battle? Did you follow either Ashton or CNN along the way? And now that it’s all over, are you planning on continuing to follow them?
Follow EW on Twitter: @EWPopWatch, @EWAusielloFiles, @EWAnnieBarrett, @davekarger
addCredit(“John Shearer/WireImage.com”)
Comments (1-15) of 23 Add your comment
Sad day in journalism when CNN loses to Kutcher
http://tvdonewright.com/2009/04/17/tv-tonight-friday-april-17th-2009/
Wow, this whole thing has really made me dislike Ashton. What a pompous jerk.
Ho-Hum….what a waste of mankind’s time and intelligence
Too many people have nothing to do.
God bless the great State of Arizona! Hail inflatable balloons! And other inane and meaningless comments in our lives. Nonsense in is still nonsense out. Love and piece (of meat)!
News companies (television, radio, newspaper) are going out of business left and right. People have finally realized that they don’t have to rely on a single source that is blatantly owned by government and bit $$$$. The internet is providing real hope and a new perspective to many americans…..RON PAUL!!!!!
Wow, this whole thing has really made me kinda like Ashton. Not the pompous jerk I thought he was.
Following neither. I do follow J.Fo and Solange Knowles though. They crack me up. Surprised John Mayer didn’t get to a million first.
Yes, Ashton Kutcher has 1 million followers, but now he has a responsibility to do something with that. He seems to tweet about how hot is wife is quite a bit. He says that this proves that one man can have a stronger voice than an entire media network. I think that’s a bit of a stretch. And sorry, but I don’t want the star of “Dude, Where’s My Car” to be that one man.
He says, “We can and will create our media. We can and will edit our media. We can and will broadcast our media.”
Citizen journalism is important, but let’s not forget that there are some things that citizen journalists just can’t do, and that’s why newspapers, magazines and broadcasters are still so necessary. Professional journalists definitely don’t get it right every time, but they’re brought up with certain ethics and standards that would possibly be lost if Ashton Kutcher had his way.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m just freaking out because I’m in journalism grad school, and I really want a job after graduation.
I would not be surprised if Oprah had many millions of followers if she actually used the service.
Impressive, check out pictures of other celbrities who twitter:
http://tinyurl.com/celbswhotwitter
Impressive, check out pictures of other celbrities who twitter:
http://tinyurl.com/celbswhotwitter
Prime reason of why I don’t Twitter.
I followed CNN and Britney specifically so Ashton would lose and now I’m convinced he cheated somehow. In any event, as someone who has only been on Twitter for a few weeks (I will do whatever the media tells me is cool!), I’m finging the site a little stupid and underwhelming. I predict it’ll go the way of MySpace.
http://tinyurl.com/celebsthattwitter
a list of other celebs on twitter right now!!