Silicon Valley Insider reports that CNN has acquired the CNNbrk Twitter account, which promotes stories on the broadcaster’s website to its 944,0000 followers, but was actually, until today, in control of an entrepreneurial individual.

The Time Warner company has not disclosed terms of the deal, but here at NBR Towers we reckon the hard-tweeting owner of CNNbrk would be unlucky to get less than $1 a follower.

The purchase will help CNN in its race with actor/MTV Punk’d front man Anton Kutcher to be the first to achieve 1 million followers on Twitter. Mr Kutcher has threated to “punk” antediluvian CNN host Larry King if he is first to the mark.

Certainly, the deal provides incentive for any cybersquatters out there who want to grab a company’s name, or a variant, then start authoritatively tweeting on its behalf.

But maybe don't make it a Conde Nast title. The publisher is taking legal action to try and take down a fake Vogue Australia account on Twitter.

No word yet if the Australian government will bid for the Fake Stephen Conroy Twitter account, set up by a rogue Telstra employee to mock the minister of communications and IT.

Sol’s not gone, but Telstra already about-facing on separation
Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo won’t officially leave the building until June. But while it waits for his resignation to take effect, Telstra has already reversed its stance on separation, now saying it is open to a break-up.

Mr Trujillo has fought the concept, hard, during his four years at the top.

But now chairman Mark McGauchie has announced Telstra will review options for separating its retail and wholesale divisions.

Only through separation can Telstra bid for business under the Australian government’s plan to build a $A43 billion national fibre network. As in New Zealand, with our pending crown-funded fibre, telcos with both wholesale and retail arms face still limitations on their investment.

Telecom NZ has been organisationally separated under the Telecommunications Act since March last year. But for the purposes of the proposed Crown Fibre Investment Company and its network of public-private Local Fibre Companies (LFCs), it is still regarded as one entity; a retail telco that can’t hold a majority holding in an LFC.

Like Telstra, Telecom now has to look hard at biting the bullet and undergoing a commercial separation, spinning off Chorus and/or Telecom Wholesale.

Twitter’s hockey stick growth
According to Comscore figures quoted on All Things D, Twitter is still a long, long way behind Facebook, which last month attracted its 200 millionth user.

Yet with the micro-blogging site enjoying exponential growth, the gap is closing fast. Twitter started the year with around 3 million Tweeters. Today, the number is around 20 million and counting.

Avoid tabloids: speak straight to your public
There’s nothing like the internet as a vehicle for rehabilitating your image.
A clip created by Lindsay Lohan for Funny or Die, ostensibly to parody dating site eHarmony, has so far attracted more than 1.8 million views with its self-deprecating jibes against the actress’ detractors.

“I would define my personality as creative, a little bit of a night owl, a workaholic, a shopaholic, and according to the state of California, an alcoholic, as well as a threat to all security guards, if they work in hotels. And to put all those rumors to rest, I am not broke. I actually have over $400 in the bank, and 20,000 Marlboro Miles, which I’m very proud of,” she says.