( CNN ) -- CNN marked a milestone Monday . Just before noon , the @ cnnbrk account topped 10 million followers on Twitter . That puts our Twitter account in the company of Lady Gaga , President Barack Obama and Cristiano Ronaldo . To mark the occasion , it 's worth reflecting how we got here . The first tweet on @ cnnbrk was n't news , and it was n't written by an employee of CNN . `` Testing '' is what James Cox tweeted in January 2007 . Cox said he started the account as a way to receive CNN 's breaking news alerts on his phone . The account started to grow and gain attention . Journalist and fellow developer Brian Boyer posted this to his blog back in 2008 : `` @ cnnbrk ai n't CNN but with > 30K followers , he owns the brand . '' Cox wrote a response to that post : `` I 've been in contact with CNN -- they wo n't sue , i 'm fairly sure , however i 'm constantly dealing with the problem of confusion -- users still think that @ cnnbrk is an official feed , therefore making me a defacto CNN employee , which is a problem . '' We did n't sue , but we did work out a deal to get the handle . As we celebrate reaching the 10-million-follower mark , Cox is the first person we should thank . The second person to thank , naturally , is Ashton Kutcher . In 2009 , he challenged CNN to a competition to see who could first reach 1 million followers . Kutcher won . At more than 13 million followers , @ aplusk is still in the lead . And we 're still coming after him . We have a simple approach to @ cnnbrk , and we believe that 's one of the keys to its success . Breaking news , from an organization that built its brand on breaking news . Straight up . Some of our most retweeted items include colorful observations from events such as last year 's conventions , slightly offbeat news and old-fashioned big breaking news . This is n't to say we are n't still `` testing . '' We have n't always been first . It 's rare that we get it wrong , but when we do , we 've tried to be transparent about it . We believe that 's another key to our success . And we have a dash of fun on occasion . The CNN homepage team has managed @ cnnbrk for the past three years , hand-crafting every tweet , 24-7 , mostly from our home base in Atlanta . They deserve the bulk of the cake and Champagne for this latest accomplishment . That team is headed by Carl Lavin ( @ FromCarl ) , our lead homepage editor . Lila King ( @ lilacina ) , our senior director for social news , is a spirit guide over all of CNN 's social media efforts . `` B-R-K , '' in newsroom shorthand , is n't the only Twitter account at CNN . We have more than 100 . Our second most popular account is @ cnn , and it 's no small fry with more than 7 million followers . What 's the difference between @ cnnbrk and @ cnn ? On @ cnn , you 'll find breaking news -- and lots more . Some of our biggest and brightest names and shows have active , highly followed accounts . Many of our sections and beats , such as @ cnnopinion , have their own accounts . The news team at Twitter called @ cnnbrk the `` Lady Gaga '' of news . Some of the staff is now suggesting that we wear meat dresses to work . Instead , we 'll thank those who got us started , tweet a thank you to all 10 million of our followers , and press on to 11 , 12 , 13 million and beyond . Lila King and Carl Lavin contributed to this piece and deserve an extra slice of cake for their efforts .
@ cnnbrk surpassed the million - follower mark twice . Managing Editor Meredith Smith says the CNN Twitter account started small . Ashton Kutcher challenged CNN to a competition to reach 10 million ; he won . Artley : CNN thanks its many followers and @ cnnbrk founder James Cox .