Ashton Kutcher narrowly beat out CNN early Friday in an online popularity contest to see who could more quickly attract 1 million followers on the micro-blogging site Twitter. Kutcher reached 1 million about 30 minutes before CNN passed the mark.
Kutcher had challenged CNN to the Twitter race, saying he would donate 10,000 mosquito bed nets to charity for World Malaria Day in late April if he beat CNN, and 1,000 if he lost. CNN agreed to do the same. The battle gained much attention on Twitter, with fans pulling for both sides.
About 2:13 a.m. ET (11:13 p.m. Thursday PT) Kutcher’s Twitter account crossed the 1 million mark, beating CNN, which had 998,239 followers at the time.
Twitter saw 131 percent growth in March alone, with 9.3 million unique U.S. visitors that month, according to comScore. The group attributes the increase to media attention on the site.
