Today is a big day for some, and a day like any other for many. Unless you’re a Social Media nerd, you probably couldn’t care less, but Twitter reached an important milestone today.

Ashton Kutcher went against Larry King and CNN and fought to become the first user to have 1 million people following them.

At 7.15 (ish) GMT this morning, Kutcher won! EA had offered to give all their games for a year to the person who was millionth to follow him, which resulted in so many people trying to follow him at that point many struggled to follow in time, and he shot to 1,000,300 in the time it took me to refresh my screen from the point he was at 999,976.

Kutcher broadcast live via Ustream as the moment approached, and a party began straight after his victory speech, then he was up dancing away with wife Demi Moore to ‘Celebration’ by Kool and the Gang (incidently, I share the same name as the lead singer – Robert ‘Kool’ Bell – different middle names though!!!)

The battle was watched live on CNN and on the web via live-stats analysis provider Chartbeat (see below)

In his victory speech, with fellow twittererati P Diddy on speakerphone, Kutcher talked about how it’s a victory for new media – no longer are we confined to having to rely on tv and newspaper news because the people can now reach each other with no help from the media at all, and one person can reach out to millions easily. He played down his individual victory, declaring it a victory for the new information age against the old school.

Kutcher also passed 1 million followers on his Facebook account yesterday, without actually promoting it.

When I wrote The Ultimate Guide to Twitter, I documented the top 10 Twitterers – Obama was at the top with almost 250,000 followers. Now, just 2 months later he has almost 750,000 – but Kutcher and CNN have both overtaken him to become the two most followed accounts. The growth of the service in those 2 months is phenomenal, and it’s predicted to continue – especially given the fact that Oprah Winfrey is about to become the next celebrity twitterer, with Kutcher helping her send her first tweet live on her TV show later today. We’re expecting a big influx of stay at home Mums turning to Twitter along with Oprah today. I wonder how long it’ll take her to hit 1 million? I daresay it’ll set records…

Kutcher promised to donate $100,000 to help Malaria for his win, and showed the cheque, already printed, live in Ustream

Read more about Ashton Kutcher’s 1 million followers  on Mashable