The Twitter Race

Last night was a historic event which truly underscored the power of social media.

Ashton Kutcher and CNN faced off in a light hearted but serious race to see who could be the first to get 1 million followers on Twitter.

Twitter has experienced massive growth in the past year, with 7 million people sharing their life in 140 characters. (Neilson said 7 million - Oprah says 20 million ... !)

And it's not only folks like you and I — it's big name brands and top dog celebrities as well.

Everyone from Barak Obama, Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres, John Mayer, Lance Armstrong, Ryan Seacrest, Jimmy Fallon, and Zappos have gotten the Twitter bug and have built up massive followings from the interested public who wants to see what they are up to at any given moment.

But last night, none other than Ashton Kutcher himself squared off against CNN's Breaking News Twitter site to see who could reach that magic 1 million followers mark the soonest.

Ashton had put out a video challenging CNN to a race a couple of days ago to overturn CNN's then #1 position on Twitter.  It was responded to by Larry King, who jumped on the Twitter bandwagon in support of CNN. And the race was on.

Last night, the race came to a heady climax around 1:10 a.m. where after hours of live interaction with Ashton on Twitter and UStream was matched with Larry King and CNN promoting their follower invites on Twitter and mainstream television

You saw in real time people signing up to follow Ashton and CNN at about the same speed — 5, 10, 20, and more followers PER SECOND. The connectedness to the "event" was palpable. You were right there, along with thousands of others, in the new "living room of life" which Twitter and other social media sites have created.

Ashton finally broke the 1 million record shortly before CNN did, and the champaign and heartfelt victory speeches ran ramped.  Ashton held up his $100,000 check already made out to the Malaria No More foundation that he had promised he would support if he won, and wife Demi Moore showed her true dancing style.

It was a moment of joy, of victory, of celebration for many reasons, not the least of which was to show in a big way how user generated sites like Twitter are becoming the new "news" portals, and that one lone man (albeit celebrity) can offer enough clout to surpass a massive corporate giant like CNN.

CNN's acknowledgement of Ashton's victory was instant and gracious, and today Ashton will be making the rounds on Oprah and Larry King.

Whoever would have thought that 140 characters of "what are you doing right now?" could have such an impact on this planet?

Mark my words, it's not going to stop here. The impact of social media on the world is only just beginning. It's an exciting time and guess what? You're a big part of it too. So let's stay connected and see how we can rock the world for good, shall we?

Tweet away,

Carolyn Carey

(follow me on Twitter and I'll follow you too :) 

PS  Needless to say, there are many resources popping up to show you how to maximize the current power of Twitter to not only generate bonds between people, but to also use it as an awesome marketing tool.

Here is one of the best, which, if you aren't on Twitter, and especially if you aren't using Twitter to the fullest, will be quite an asset for you.

Check it out: 

Twitter Traffic Exposed