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Written on 17th April 2009
1 COMMENT 
Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
note: CNN was the most followed account on Twitter at time of writing. Ashton Kutcher is now the most followed person on Twitter after reaching the million follower milestone first.
We recently reported on the story of Twitter’s most followed account cnnbrk (CNN Breaking News) being officially taken over by the news corporation. With the recent hullaballoo on CNN television about the race to a million followers (Ashton Kutcher who has now won) on Twitter, it was clearly an interesting fact that the account didn’t actually belong to the corporation at all but rather a London based consultant James Cox.
Today we can share the official story of the ‘acquisition’ and exactly how it all went down.
A little over two years ago, James Cox created a Twitter account (@cnnbrk) to be able to send CNN’s Breaking News RSS feed through to his mobile. A few months later, Cox received a phone call from CNN who had noticed how Cox and others had also begun to use the account. After some discussion, they both agreed to work collaboratively on the account with CNN helping promote it and Cox sharing his knowledge of Twitter and other social media applications with them.
Two years later, the account now approaching a million followers, CNN call Cox in for a chat at their head quarters in Atlanta. The agreement they arrived upon, according to CNN, means in exchange for the transferring the account over to CNN, Cox will provide consulting services to their staff.
Twitter has always made clear that buying or selling Twitter usernames is against Twitter terms and conditions, and any accounts involved would automatically be suspended. CNN and Cox have neatly managed to work around any legal turmoil by employing Cox in return and ensuring a happy end for all involved.
Written on 15th April 2009
9 COMMENTS
Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
This is uncanny.
Not minutes after we post about the most followed Twitter account (@cnnbrk) not being run by CNN, but rather a British entrepreneur James Cox – news breaks that the Twitter account has just been acquired, by CNN themselves.
We have been in touch with Cox and he has confirmed the news.
A full report on the story can be found here.
Written on 15th April 2009
8 COMMENTS
Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
**Updated**
We have just confirmed with the owner of @cnnbrk that CNN have just acquired the account. Full report to follow here.
![[Updated] The most followed account on Twitter @cnnbrk is NOT run by CNN [Things You Should Know]](http://thenextweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/picture-181.png "picture-181")
This has been a widely known fact for some time now, however a post (recently updated) over on TechCrunch about a race between Ashton Kutcher and CNN, made me think some people have been left unaware. The fact? cnnbrk, the most followed account on Twitter is not run, controlled or owned by CNN the news organisation.
So Who?
The account is actually controlled by James Cox, a British internet consultant and as you should notice there are no links to any CNN content. Interestingly, there doesn’t seem have been a tweet for some three days now – maybe not too much breaking news?
![[Updated] The most followed account on Twitter @cnnbrk is NOT run by CNN [Things You Should Know]](http://thenextweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/picture-193.png "picture-193")
CNN not even in the top 100
In fact CNN aren’t even on the top 100 list of most followed Twitter accounts. The highest ranking news organisation appears to be the NY Times at 11 and 582.979 followers. However, Twitter will now remove or hand over Twitter accounts that violate copyright therefore CNN should be able to snap up the name from Cox without too much hassle if they choose to. (more…)
Written on 18th February 2009
15 COMMENTS
Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Yahoo News has joined other heavy weight news agencies in confusing US President’s name Barack Obama with international terrorist Osama Bin Laden.
CNN made a blunder not so long ago which it was forced to apologise for:
This latest screw up from Yahoo News can been seen below, time for another apology.
Written on 23rd August 2008
0 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Way to go CNN. On the very day that social media rockstar Barack Obama announces who his running mate will be, the news channel introduces embeddable video. The political season at the other side of the ocean is really heating up now and CNN is there to supply us with some video coverage. I think it’s pretty safe to say that they have the ambition to turn their video content into a viral phenomenon.
Army of promoters
By introducing the embed button, CNN has basically hired an army of promoters. Every time a blogger decides to accompany a post with a CNN video, he basically puts the word out for the American news company. So I don’t see any reasons, apart from the traditional backward ones – to NOT offer embeddable videos.
So here’s how the 406px by 393px video player looks:
CNN wants you to download Firefox 3
CNN punished me for still using the 2.0 Firefox edition (Yeah I know, sorry), as I wasn’t able to get the embed code in that browser. Luckily I also have Safari 3 running, which is a CNN Video-compatible browser. Linux users won’t be able to share in the CNN joy, as the flash player sadly doesn’t support that OS.
Apart from that glitch, I’d like to congratulate CNN with yet another step into the future of web publishing.
Written on 1st January 2008
5 COMMENTS
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
Every year it takes webmasters a few days (or months!) to realize that it is a new year and they should update the copyright notices at the bottom of their websites. I know, it is trivial, but I just can’t help but smile when I see the most expensive and well watched frontpage of the world display ‘2007′ when it is actually 2008
Google and Yahoo: both wrong
CNN and Reuters: Reuters wins!
Wired and Techcrunch: both wrong
Apple and Microsoft: sorry Apple fans, both wrong
See any other funny examples of outdated websites?
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
