RSS FeedTwitter’s Big Break
Ashton Kutcher’s victory over CNN is somewhat symbolic. Ashton called it the “changing of the guard” and proof that the web is a viable and already powerful media channel. Like the election of President Obama wasn’t proof enough. One could argue that it is easier for Ashton to reach an “internet-savvy” population of people since he was campaigning ON the internet, or that by buying in to the challenge CNN pushed enough people to vote for the underdog. All of it doesn’t matter, victory was claimed and conceded.
What happened afterward is actually more interesting, because Ashton went on Oprah. The number of twitter users, already growing at a monstrous pace, has seen the biggest boost in history. Twitter is mainstream.
So of course, there is the inevitable backlash from loyal supporters and early adopters. Is this really necessary with every single thing that becomes successful? Everyone from Green Day to Facebook have had to deal with this bullshit “sell-out” stereotype and it’s getting a little ridiculous. I don’t even see how having more people on Twitter is a bad thing. Twitter is by it’s very nature, completely immune to an influx of people. If anything it improves the service by giving you more interesting people to follow. If you don’t like them, don’t follow them.
Tags: ashton, cnn, kutcher, oprah, twitter