Blogging Notes

The introduction is short, maybe even unnecessary, unless you haven’t been on planet Earth for a while: Ashton Kutcher vowed to reach 1 million Twitter followers before CNN Breaking News does.

There is already a lot of coverage of this race around the web, especially since Ashton vouched to donate 10,000 nets to the fight against malaria. CNN matched his offer, but also promised to donate 1,000 nets if the are defeated.

This got me wondering: What happens after Ashton reaches the 1 million followers goal? Here are some possibilities:

1. He stops getting new followers and keeps the 1 million something followers he has.
   It was fun while it lasted, but goal achieved, so there’s nothing more he will do on this subject.
2. Followers stop following him and he drops back below the 1 million mark.
   A lot of people could have just followed him for the sake of the race, maybe thinking this is their way of contributing to the noble goal of fighting malaria. After that goal has been reached, they may not be interested in Mr Kutcher’s ranting anymore.
3. He may find something new to keep his followers or even set a higher goal.
   Yes, maybe he has a master plan, of which attaining these 1 million followers is just a preparing step. Maybe he has other plans for which he needed to get (and keep) the 1 million voices (Kutcher for president?).
4. He will drop this and find some new creative way to get the attention of the public drawn to himself
   … or to a non-profit organization. Either way, Ashton is known to draw attention to himself in unexpected ways. “I am a celebrity, but I’m still human and know how to have fun” is the message I get from him. He has the ability to come up with anything and to have the public focus on it, even if he would drop this whole Twitter thing after it’s done.

And what about CNN?

1. They keep all those new followers
   People may just keep them in the list. You never know when some news that interests me breaks.
2. They lose followers
   Same as with Ashton: They were more interested in the race than in the actual tweets. They don’t need to know of “World leaders arriving for Group of 20 economic summit in London” as it happens, so they stop following CNN.

Unless I missed something, there are no other possibilities for CNN after this race.

Let’s have some fun

Let’s run a small poll here. Who will be the first to drop back to or under 900,000 followers after this race? Please feel free to elaborate with a comment.

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photo credit: Carol Esther