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The Race to 1,000,000 Followers Sends Twitter and Social Media intoRelevance and Irrelevance
By Brian Solis, blogger at  PR 2.0  and principal of FutureWorksPR, Co- Author Putting the Public Back in Public Relationsand Now Is Gone
SourceIt started as a simple and seemingly harmless contest. Who would be the first person on Twitter to reach 1,000,000 followers?This wasn’t yet another follower push open to just anyone on Twitter however, not even theWeblebrities who helped propel the popular micro community to an emerging, iconic pop culturestatus; it was (and at the moment, still is) a race between the world’s most visible celebrities andprominent media brands.
(cc) Brian Solis,www.briansolis.com- Twitter, @briansolis
 
Ashton Kutcher, a television and movie star who’s also keenly astute and observant to thepromise of new media, challenged CNN and its founder, Ted Turner to the race.It was the match heard round the blogosphere, twitterverse and statusphere.Shortly thereafter, Britney Spears, Will Smith and a bevy of opportunistic celebrities (and their publicists) and media properties (driven by their PR teams) followed suit. Britney’s team offeredchances to win free tickets in exchange for followers. Other celebrities (who shall remainanonymous, DM’d followers to ask for help in spreading the word.)The competition quickly became a media phenomenon.Ashton and Twitter Co-Founder Evan Williams appeared on the Oprah show, which celebrated anew genre of media and online celebrity with almost every leading competitor surpassing1,000,000 followers on the same day. The publicity was enough to inspireOprahtostart tweeting.
(cc) Brian Solis,www.briansolis.com- Twitter, @briansolis
 
Sarah Ross, Ashton Kutcher, TechCrunch50Initially I questioned the exchange. I couldn’t help but feel as though “we the people” on Twitter were merely viewed as pawns in a personal chess match between the elite.Think about it. If Twitter had 6-7 million users, we’re talking about 1 in every 6 or so usersfollowing one of the contenders.I threw the question out to Twitter, “How do you feel about the race to 1,000,000?”The response was almost overwhelming in its volume and vigor, spanning across Twitter andFacebook over the course of several hours.While the publicity for Twitter and the overall medium that is Social Media is incredible andsprawling, I believe that the purpose and deeper meaning of having 1,000,000 followers on
(cc) Brian Solis,www.briansolis.com- Twitter, @briansolis
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