Ashton Kutcher or CNN?  It seems that twitter has now reached it’s first ‘tipping point’.  The moment for any trend to have enough exposure and momentum that it’s promotion or adoption becomes self maintaining. This month we have seen the public battle of Ashton and the Media Giant CNN trying to be the first to reach 1,000,000 followers on Twitter. And with more and more people ‘tweeting’, and the .Inc realisation that these people are also their customers and prospects, we have recently seen the rise in Brands using Twitter as a legitimate route to market.

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Since twitter offers a ‘micro blog’ platform, the real question is how can an established Brands utilise such a minute stage.  What will keep the attention span of a consumer on TV is not the same hook that will encourage someone to ‘follow’ a brand on Twitter or other social networking platforms.  A static, non-changing brand  will not do, a real life, living breathing Brand does.  Ashton is a great example.  He Tweets regularly on everything from his wardrobe to his beliefs, and set against the celebrity obsessed world, with ever decreasing attention spans, is it really a surprise that a celebrity will be the first to reach 1,000,000 followers?

What does this really say about the state of the online universe?  Has it really been turned upside down, or are the laws of Marketing Physics just very different online.  The birth of planet ’social network’ has given the population a platform, a voice, a vote that is made without any pressure.  Decsions made online are very personal decisions, and although influenced by the outside world, are really made on the strength of one’s own mind.

Is it mad or marketing genius that nearly 1,000,000 people are following the life of Ashton in byte size chunks of 147 characters? Is it mad or marketing genius that CNN have just purchased a Twitter account for an undisclosed amount with 970,000 followers in an attempt to win the race?