Without a doubt, Twitter is pop culture’s sparkling darling right now. The all-too ballyhooed competition between Ashton Kutcher and CNN pushed Twitter into superstardom. The challenge gave people a reason to care—a reason to pick sides. Essentially, it pitted Ashton Kutcher against Larry King.

It should come as little shock, America’s class clown, Mr. Kutcher, @aplusk, won the bet.

From Mashable:

In case you missed it in People, Entertainment Weekly, or on ABC News, it all started when Kutcher (@aplusk) put out a video declaring that he wanted to beat CNN to one million followers. He upped the ante today by tweeting that he’d also donate 10,000 bed nets to help fight malaria if he was first.

CNN responded in the form of a Larry King video, in which the iconic TV host pulls a fairly classic “do you know who I am?” routine. Incidentally, it turns out CNN didn’t actually own the account (@cnnbrk) that is closing in on one million followers until recently reaching a deal with the person that started it.

Here are the videos:

Oddly enough, only about 6% of CNN’s viewers use Twitter. 64% do not, and 30% responded, “What’s Twitter?”

This feels a bit like MySpace circa 2006, does it not?

The importance of Twitter isn’t really put on display by this battle for attention. Twitter is about a real-life connection with the people and brands that influence our world.

Oprah, @oprah, made her first post (with the help of Twitter’s golden boy, Ashton) on live TV.

Shaq, @THE_REAL_SHAQ, has become one of the most colorful and influential celebrities to tweet.  He broadcasts live and unedited, misspelled words and all: “Sittn in a police management class, I will b a sheriff , put yo hands up”.

I recently read a very interesting article about seven ways to approach Twitter. One can be 1) themselves, 2) a personal brand, 3) a corporate brand, 4) a fictional character or dead historical person, 5) a literature, 6) a robot, or 7) a blend. I’ll spare a description of that—jump over here if you want to learn more.

From a marketing perspective, the brands that do it right give people a look behind the veil of the corporate machine. CEO’s who tweet humanize a brand. Brands who tweet create instant customer connections.

Two great examples of this are Sweet Leaf Tea in Austin, TX and Zappos in Henderson, NV.

Sweet Leaf Tea makes ready-to-drink organic teas and lemonades. Their founder, Clayton Christopher (@SweetLeafCEO), updates this Twitter page daily, commonly with TwitPics (a free service for attaching pics to a tweet). He recently posted about the MS150 bike ride from Houston to Austin, including a few tweets from his BlackBerry.

Zappos (@Zappos_Service) uses their account to keep customer service on the up-and-up. @BUKSHUN tweeted, less than an hour before this was written, “Just ordered 5 pairs of shoes from ZAPPOS, shhhhhh don’t tell the wife… At least not yet! Gotta love them Classics..” Within minutes, @Zappos_Service responded, “@BUKSHUN We’ll keep it on the low down for you. Enjoy the new shoes!”

What a great touch!

How are you connecting with your customers? Customer service is no longer answering calls from angry customers—it starts far, far earlier than that. Social media has empowered consumers like never before. It’s up to brands to be a part of that conversation.

For brands just learning how to tweet, check out this amazing article about the practice of retweeting, which, in essence, is how content becomes viral on Twitter.  Click and learn.

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