Following the great Twitter race to 1 million

Ashton Kutcher is the first Twitter user to gain 1 million followers.

Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) cracks open a bottle of champagne with friends after beating CNN (@cnnbrk) to 1 million followers on Twitter

(Credit: Ustream)

The race between Ashton Kutcher and CNN to become the first Twitter user to get 1 million followers is nearing the end, and both sides are stepping up their game. CNN went live on TV to promote their own account, trying to best Kutcher, and Kutcher has responded by going live on Ustream.tv to try to push himself over the top.

Demi Moore supports her husband, Ashton Kutcher, as he campaigns on Ustream in the final stretch.

(Credit: Ustream)

After Kutcher laid down the challenge on Qik, this race has been filled with trash talking, and it has really escalated beyond control.

Both sides are promising donations to charity, if they win, and Electronic Arts is even adding some additional incentive, promising Kutcher's 1 millionth follower a copy of every game they make in 2009 and a spot in a future game.

As of 10:25 p.m. PST, Kutcher leads by a little more than 1,000 followers. We will keep this story updated as the race to 1 million progresses.

Update at 10:32 p.m.: Apparently, Twitter is glitching out a little as the two rivals near 1 million followers. See the shot below, in which Twitter reports @cnnbrk's followers at 1,998,130. This makes me feel a little down about my 483 followers. Additionally, it appears that Kutcher is starting to pull away a little more.

Either Twitter is glitching or @cnnbrk just destroyed @aplusk.

(Credit: Twitter)

Update at 10:44 p.m.: Kutcher is 2,000 followers away from 1 million, and it looks like he's going to take it, barring some serious on-air campaigning from CNN.

Update at 10:48 p.m.: CNN is pitching for followers live on air.

Anderson Cooper and a fellow CNN colleague beg for followers on air.

(Credit: CNN)

Update at 10:58 p.m.: Kutcher has 1,000 followers to go. CNN trails by more than 2,000.

Update at 11:13 p.m.: The race is over! @aplusk takes the win! He won by a margin of about 2,000.

Update at 11:54 p.m.: Kutcher may have reached the 1 million mark first, but CNN has also passed 1 million followers.

[jabberwolf]

Wow... the one that gets the most followers has the most idiots.

[Lindeskog]

A celebrity blogger beat the giant of the mainstream media? It is all good! ;) If you take away 3 "zeroes" ('000) the number of followers, you get my amount at the moment. I have around 1000 followers right now.

Harrison Hoffman: One thing you could do on Twitter is to write three good things in order to stay in a positive mood. Search on the hashtag #GoodThing or search after my blog post, Three Good Things On Twitter, on EGO.

All the Best,

Martin Lindeskog - American in spirit.
Gothenburg, Sweden.
http://Twitter.com/Lyceum

[elucidmarketing]

Great race, I wanna see the other celeb contest.

Check me out on Twitter@elucidmarketing We are a group of students, coders, and web developers working on new social media sites as side projects. If u need help or interested, connect to use on twitter or facebook at elucid marketing. Good luck CNN!

[robbelluk]

Let's hope CNN pick their game up with the @cnnbrk account now the game is over - since they took it over some days ago, there's been 1 piece of news in 5 days...

Rob
@robbell

[rahja]

Twitter just jumped the shark...

[carol1028]

I'M GOING TO ENJOY THIS.