Kutcher said he would do donate 10,000 mosquito bed nets to charity for World Malaria Day in late April if he beat CNN, and 1,000 if he lost. CNN agreed to do the same.

Fans from both sides joined battle using both traditional and new media platforms to garner followers reported CNN.

According to two website that monitor popularity on Twitter, a social networking site based on 140 character messages, no one account has ever had more than one million followers.

CNN reported that the contest also highlighted some celebrity efforts to use their online popularity to draw attention important issues.

The fact that the winner will be donating to a charity has added to the impact said online reports.

According to a CCN report, the World Health Organization says more than 700 million insecticide-treated bed nets are needed to adequately address the malaria epidemic, which killed about 880,000 people, mostly among African children, in 2006 alone.

Twitter's recent rapid growth has been attributed to the increase in media attention on the site. The site grew by 131 per cent in March, with 9.3 million unique US visitors that month, according to comScore.

In a video message that aired on CNN's Larry King Live, the talk show host grinned as he accepted Kutcher's challenge.

King then invited Kutcher to appear on his show, Larry King Live reported CNN but Kutcher responded by saying "this is a saga for the Internet," and asked King to come on his Internet show to settle things instead.