Last week, Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) beat CNN's Breaking News Feed (@cnnbrk) to the one million follower mark on Twitter. This was after a challenge that enjoyed some viral attention last week that even gained coverage by mainstream media organizations like the Associated Press. In response to his victory, Kutcher exclaimed: "We can and will create our media… Victory is ours!" He feels that Twitter will help people bypass old media news organizations — like CNN — to get information.
However, I'm not sure if CNN really lost in this challenge. Kutcher is a widely popular actor, and the fact that he could even rival it for attracting Twitter followers is evidence of this. That is why his challenge was actually a great thing for CNN, even though it lost.
During Kutcher's challenge many people flocked to the breaking news feed to follow. I'm sure that some people feel that it would be a disgrace if a celebrity was able to trump an established news organization. What would that say about our society's priorities?
Needless to say, this challenge inspired many to follow CNN's feed — if for any reason other than to help it beat a celebrity. Thus, many more people now will receive CNN's updates and links to its website now via Twitter. Let's not forget all the "free press" it brought CNN. CNN didn't lose here, especially since it won't suffer from the door bell prank its founder Ted Turner will suffer is no longer with the organization.
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