Kansas teen’s “mean” tweet stirs First Amendment controversy

From the back of the audience of a speech by Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, 18-year-old Emma Sullivan tweeted “Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucks, in person #heblowsalot.” As controversy heated up over this situation, the public has showed her support by also using the hashtag #heblowsalot. Since that first tweet, she has amassed more than 14,000 followers (while the Governor only has 3,379!) and tweets about gratitude for her supporters and her disbelief that she is now making headlines.

Governor Brownback’s office spotted Sullivan’s tweet during routine social media monitoring and contacted the Youth in Government program Sullivan was participating in. Sullivan was called into her principal’s office, scolded, and ordered to submit an apology letter to the Governor. Sullivan refused to write such a letter. Later, the Governor was the one issuing an apology, admitting that his staff overreacted to her tweet.

Rihanna reaches 10 million followers

Rihanna is the most recent celebrity to reach 10,000,000 followers on Twitter. She will be the 8th human, 6th woman, and 5th female musical artists to reach this number. The last million followers have all been acquired in the past 27 days. MediaBistro.com reports that the next celebrity to reach this milestone will likely be Taylor Swift, likely right before Christmas.

Ashton Kutcher kicked out of Top 10 Most Followed on Twitter

Following his recent blunder and handing over of his Twitter feed, Ashton Kutcher is no longer one of the top ten most followed users on Twitter. Kutcher is (was?) one of the most famous celebrity personalities on social media and was the first to reach one million followers. But he has been knocked out of the top 10 by Selena Gomez. According to Media Bistro, he’ll have to fight to defend position #11 as it looks like Oprah Winfrey and Ellen Degeneres should pass him by the end of the year.

Dallas Cowboys cheerleader gets national attention after tackle

During the fourth quarter of the Dallas Cowboys’ game against the Miami Dolphins on Thanksgiving Day, Cowboys cheerleader Melissa Kellerman (@MelissaRae) was accidentally taken down by tight end Jason Witten. She got right back up and later took to Twitter to let everyone know she was okay, tweeting “I’m not the best at Jason Witten trust falls. ” and “Not hurtin’ today, like some of ya’ll thought I would be. Our TE isn’t as tough as he looks…That or I’m WAY tougher than I look. ”

The controversy started when CNBC’s Darren Rovell reported in a tweet that the team made her delete her account after comments made about the incident.  Then a campaign to bring back Kellerman’s account, @BringBakMelissa, popped up on Twitter and fans began voicing their opinions (mostly angry) on the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ official fan page on Facebook. Since wall posts are no longer allowed, fans took to commenting on other posts.

The director of public relations for the Cowboys, Rich Dalrymple, stated that the team has “never gotten involved with individual Twitter accounts or suspended one,” and that Kellerman deleted the account herself because she was “overwhelmed by the number of responses.” After being tackled, her number of followers tripled quickly. Her account has since been put back up, but as private so fans must request to follow her.

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