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Ashton Kutcher on Twitter

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Template:Infobox Twitter account Ashton Kutcher's Twitter account (@aplusk) is the official Twitter account of American actor and former model Ashton Kutcher. In early 2009, when Kutcher had only thousands of followers (as opposed to a million), he and wife, Demi Moore, were regarded as the first well-known Twitter couple by major media publications such as Time and Los Angeles Times. @aplusk became the first Twitter account with 1 million followers in April 2009 after famously challenging CNN to a race to achieve the milestone.[1] The account spent more than 13 months as the world's most-followed Twitter account. As of 11 June 2012, Kutcher ranked 19th with over 11 million followers.[2]

In his role as the most-followed tweeter, Kutcher not only served as a technology ambassador by example, but also embarked on a mission to Russia as part of a delegation by the United States Department of State. Kutcher is widely-regarded for his technological savvy, both serving as a highly coveted technology venture capital investor and playing technology entrepreneur roles as an actor. He has also been a long-time technology spokesman. Kutcher has been widely-covered by media outlets, including CNN, Time and The New York Times, for his twitter activity.

History

Launched on January 16, 2009 at 01:40:06,[3] Kutcher's account quickly became prominent. By late January 2009 when he had 7,800 followers and his wife, Demi Moore, had 5,600 followers, Kutcher and Moore were regarded as Twitter's first celebrity couple.[4] They were a measuring stick by which Twitter was determined to have gone mainstream in early 2009.[5] For example by the time he had 45,474 followers and she 25,831, Time featured them among the worlds top 10 celebrity twitterers, introducing the pair to the world as follows: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first Twitter celeb couple."[6] That February, the couple's twitter exploits during the February 22, 2009 81st Academy Awards were covered in a New York Times story detailing behind the scenes activities that demonstrated the capabilities of Twitter.[7]

On Tuesday April 14, 2009, ABC News reported that Kutcher would challenge CNN to a race for 1 million Twitter followers. At the time, he had 858,660 followers, and by Wednesday afternoon he was up to third place with 903,508 followers.[8] At about the same time, CNN reported Kutcher had 896,947 followers, which was the 3rd-most followers, (behind Britney Spears, @britneyspears, who had 905,640 followers, CNN's breaking news, @cnnbrk, was followed by 937,787).[9] After Kutcher made the challenge, EA Sports offered awards to Kutcher's millionth follower, if he won his challenge.[10] After the lead changed hands a few times on Thursday,[11] Kutcher eventually surpassed 1 million followers 30 minutes before CNN, which necessitated that he fulfill a promise to prank Ted Turner, the founder of CNN.[12][13] In another part of the bet, both Kutcher and CNN delivered mosquito bed nets to help stop the spread of malaria. Upon becoming aware of the media event, Oprah Winfrey made her first tweet and promised to donate thousands of malaria bed nets. Ryan Seacrest also contributed to the effort.[14] A sample of Kutcher's tweets presented by Time magazine showed that he tweets directly over the web, through TweetDeck as well as through Tweetie.[15] According to Time it was the intra-couple twittering with his wife and not the publicity surrounding his challenge that lured his followership.[16] Nonetheless, Kutcher has opined that he feels twitter is part of the multiple causation of the decline of romance.[17]

On May 23, 2010, as both accounts approached 5 million followers,[18] Britney Spears surpassed Kutcher for the most followers, although she was surpassed three months later by current leader Lady Gaga.[19] On March 2, 2011, Kutcher's account was hacked while attending a technology conference. The hacker hijacked the account using Firesheep over an unsecured Wi-Fi connection to post two tweets.[20] Within two weeks, Twitter began providing an encrypted connection option.[21] In May 2011, when he was selected to replace Charlie Sheen on the television show Two and a Half Men Kutcher riddled his twitter following with a message to lead them to the number 2.5: "What's the square root of 6.25?"[22]

In November 2011, Kutcher tweeted about the firing of Joe Paterno, saying: "How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste".[23][24] After realizing that the firing was related to the Penn State sex abuse scandal, he recanted his initial statement and noted that "As an advocate in the fight against child sexual exploitation, I could not be more remorseful for all involved in the Penn St. case."[25][26]Time reported that rather than a headline, Kutcher had just seen the tail end of the Paterno story.[27] He subsequently turned his account over to a production company.[28][24] Following the decision to turn over his account, he was commonly referred to in the press as a "Twitter Quitter".[29][30] At about the same time as the Kutcher-Paterno scandal, Moore announced she was leaving Kutcher.[31]

After Kutcher became estranged from his wife, Demi Moore, his Foursquare and linked Twitter accounts were hacked in January 2012 with postings detailing fabricated statements about his relationship with his new significant other, Lorene Scafaria. Although the hacked postings were deleted, they were posted on Celebrity Tweet. By hacking both the Four Square and Twitter account the hacker revealed both Scafaria's and his own address.[32] Twitter was Kutcher's first introduction to Justin Bieber. Both later collaborated on pranks for Bieber's role as a replacement for Kutcher on Punk'd.[33]

Kutcher and technology

As of April 2012, Kutcher had 10 million plus twitter followers, 12 million plus Facebook fans and a strong reputation for technological savvy due to his venture capital investments in startups such as Foursquare, Airbnb, Zaarly, Chegg, Flipboard, and Skype.[34] While he was the world's most popular twitter user by follower count, he served the United States on a diplomatic mission to Russia.[35][36] The delegation's tweets, which were hashtagged #rustechdel, were prominently followed in the media.[37] In May 2011, Kutcher released his own Twitter app for desktop computer users named A.Plus.[38] He also advises Twitter app investor UberMedia.[39] As an actor, Kutcher plays technology entrepreneur characters Walden Schmidt on Two and a Half Men and Steve Jobs in Jobs.[40][41] Kutcher has been the spokesman for the Nikon Coolpix series of digital cameras since March 2008, appearing in print, online and television advertisements.[42]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kutcher's Twitter flock first to hit 1 million: Actor beats CNN in race to milestone, pledges $100,000 in malaria fight". MSNBC. 2009-04-17. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  2. ^ "The Twitaholic.com Top 100 Twitterholics based on Followers". Twitaholic.com. 2012-05-27. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference basicstats was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Milian, Mark (2009-01-29). "Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore: first Twitter celeb couple". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  5. ^ Smith, Peter (2009-02-09). "Twitter and the Dalai Lama". IT World. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  6. ^ "Top 10 Celebrity Twitter Feeds". Time. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  7. ^ Wortham, Jenna (2009-02-23). "Twittering Celebrities Take Fans Backstage in Their Lives". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  8. ^ Dumenco, Simon (2009-04-17). "The Real Meaning of Ashton Kutcher's 1M Twitter Followers". Advertising Age. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
  9. ^ "Ashton Kutcher challenges CNN to Twitter popularity contest". CNN. 2009-04-16. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  10. ^ Paul, Ian (2009-04-16). "Kutcher and CNN Battle for Millionth Twitter Fan -- Sims 3 Prize Awaits". PC World. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  11. ^ Sutter, John D. (2009-04-16). "CNN retakes lead in Twitter battle with Ashton Kutcher". CNN. Retrieved 2012-05-28.
  12. ^ "Ashton Kutcher fulfills promise, pranks CNN". CNN. 2009-05-14. Retrieved 2012-05-28.
  13. ^ Eldredge, Richard (2009-05-14). "Celebrity birthdays: CNN Sign, Ted's Montana Grill "Punk'd" Courtesy of Kutcher". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 2012-05-28.
  14. ^ "Oprah, Ashton Kutcher mark Twitter 'turning point'". CNN. 2009-04-18. Retrieved 2012-05-28.
  15. ^ "The World of Twitter: An excerpt of tweets from some of the most popular twitterers". Time. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  16. ^ Webley, Kayla (2011-03-28). "The 140 Best Twitter Feeds of 2011". Time. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  17. ^ Kutcher, Ashton (2010-12-08). "Ashton Kutcher: Has Texting Killed Romance?". Harpers's Bazaar. Retrieved 2012-07-01.
  18. ^ Bosker, Bianca (2010-05-24). "Britney Spears Is Twitter QUEEN: Ashton Kutcher Loses His Top Spot (PICTURES)". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2012-05-28.
  19. ^ "The New Queen Of Twitter". Forbes. 2010-08-23. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  20. ^ Hill, Kashmir (2011-03-02). "Activist Hacks Ashton Kutcher's Twitter Account To Push For Increased Security". Forbes. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
  21. ^ Singel, Ryan (2011-03-15). "Twitter Offers HTTPS Option to Thwart Tweet Hackers". Wired. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
  22. ^ Carter, Bill (2011-05-13). "Kutcher to Replace Sheen on 'Two and a Half Men'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  23. ^ Villarreal, Yvonne (2011-11-09). "Ashton Kutcher prematurely defends fired Penn State coach Joe Paterno". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  24. ^ a b "Ashton Kutcher's Joe Paterno tweet: Should celebs manage own Twitter feeds?". The Washington Post. 2011-11-10. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  25. ^ Villarreal, Yvonne (2011-11-09). "Ashton Kutcher prematurely defends fired Penn State coach Joe Paterno". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  26. ^ D'Zurilla, Christie (2011-11-10). "Ashton Kutcher's Paterno tweet sends actor running for PR cover". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  27. ^ Gibson, Megan (2011-11-10). "Ashton Kutcher Under Fire for Uninformed Tweet About Joe Paterno". Time. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
  28. ^ Hughes, Sarah Anne (2011-11-10). "Ashton Kutcher turns Twitter over to pros after sending Joe Paterno tweet". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  29. ^ Wallace, Lewis (2011-11-10). "Ashton Kutcher, Don't Be a Twitter Quitter!". Wired. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
  30. ^ "Ashton Kutcher Is a Twitter Quitter Over Paterno Scandal". Extra. 2011-11-10. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
  31. ^ "CBS head scolds Kutcher over Penn State tweet". Businessweek. 2011-11-18. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
  32. ^ Storm, Darlene (2012-01-16). "Dumb hacker tweets FourSquare location while hacking Ashton Kutcher". Computerworld. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  33. ^ "Justin Bieber reveals Taylor Swift prank". The New Zealand Herald. 29 March 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  34. ^ Popelka, Larry (2012-04-16). "Ashton Kutcher (and His Followers): Tech's New Power Brokers". Businessweek. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
  35. ^ Barry, Ellen (2010-02-24). "Washington Sends Delegation to Moscow, via Silicon Valley". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  36. ^ Ioffe, Julia (2010-02-24). "Getting punk'd in Russia". Fortune. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  37. ^ Goode, Lauren (2010-02-26). "Tweets of the Week: From Russia With Tweets". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-06-26.
  38. ^ Olivarez-Giles, Nathan (2011-05-23). "Ashton Kutcher releases A.Plus Twitter app built by UberMedia". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
  39. ^ Couts, Andrew (2011-05-26). "Ashton Kutcher invests in vacation rental startup Airbnb". Digital Trends. Retrieved 2012-05-03.
  40. ^ "Kutcher to play Steve Jobs in biopic". U.S. News & World Report. 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
  41. ^ Derschowitz, Jessica (20111-08-03). "Ashton Kutcher's "Two and a Half Men" role revealed". CBS News. Retrieved 2012-06-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  42. ^ "Popular Digital Camera Brand Taps Ashton Kutcher for TV, Print & Web Ads". Shootonline.com. 2008-03-25. Retrieved 2012-006-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ashton Kutcher.
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Preceded by Worldwide Twitter follower leader
April 17, 2009 – May 23, 2010 		Succeeded by
Britney Spears
(@britneyspears)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ashton_Kutcher_on_Twitter&oldid=506401417"