If you attempt to login to Twitter.com today – and this is why this blog article was worth writing as about 75 per cent of all users access Twitter via an external client – you’ll be presented with a new home page.

World AIDS Day, which is observed on December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. Each year has a different theme, and for 2009 it is universal access and human rights.

JoinRED is part of the Product Red initiative, a business model which teams up with many of the world’s most iconic brands to produce RED branded products, raising awareness and money for the Global Fund. A portion of all profits are invested in African AIDS programs, which a specific focus on women and children.

Follow @JoinRED as instructed, and check out their latest tweet:

By adding #red to your tweets, it appears to switch everything that is clickable in that tweet to the colour red. This includes your username, the hashtag itself, and any link.

This also works with any mention of the word ‘Aids’.

I’m sure something more dramatic is meant to happen, and I’ll update accordingly if I find out exactly what this is.

You can also turn Facebook red too.

I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a very worthy cause, and even though five of the current trending topics are AIDS-related, you can still play your part.

I’m attending the Media140 conference in London today. In fact, by the time you read this, I’ll already be there or perhaps still on the (0639) train. I’m excited, because the subject this time is brands, something which has become very much a part of my working life in the past few months.

This is the second Media140 event. The previous and first, which I also attended in May of this year, was a huge success. This second event is bigger and by all accounts should be better, too – it’s completely sold out.

(The after-party is a blast. Tickets are still available here.)

I’ll be live-tweeting the entire event, which runs from 9am until about 6pm, and you can follow everything by tracking the #media140 hashtag on Twitter. If you follow me on Twitter, that’s pretty much all I’ll be tweeting about in the day.

Also, if you’re looking for a great list of people to follow, all of whom are involved with this year’s event, check out the Media140 list on TweepML.

If you’re attending tomorrow and want to say hello, I’ll be the guy with the shaved head and the black Samsung NC10 netbook. My default expression seems to be the scowl, but I assure you I’m a lot friendlier than I look. Would be nice to hook up, and put some names to faces.

Back in May of this year, I had a fantastic experience at the first Media140 London microblogging event. Twittercism.com was a media partner and I’m pleased to announce that we will be working with Media140 for the next conference which takes place on October 26^th, at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Media140 London has partnered with the IAB, Contagious, Revolution and Capital Business Media to host a unique event to explore the impact of Twitter and real-time social media on brands, marketing and advertising. Discovering how brands, marketers and agencies are using and exploring the benefits and opportunities of social media tools such as Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, QIK, 12seconds and AudioBoo, which are disrupting, challenging and changing traditional media and advertising.

Earlybird tickets are currently available at £135 but Twittercism.com subscribers can use the voucher code ad140 to get the discounted rate of just £95! Click here to buy your ticket.

I’ll of course be in attendance and will be once again live-tweeting the event for Media140. If you’re going, drop me a message (or leave a comment on this blog) and we’ll hook up.

(I’d particularly like to connect with a few of the folk I missed last time – you know who you are!)

You can now subscribe to Twittercism on Facebook. If, like 250 million other people, you use the popular social network, it’s a great way to keep up-to-date with the latest posts and updates.

Just visit this page, and click on the button. I’ll see you there!

Only ten weeks have passed since considerable fanfare was attributed to Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) becoming the first Twitter account to surpass one million followers, beating CNN (@cnnbrk) in the process, which hit the magic number shortly afterwards.

Since then, another twenty-three accounts on the network have moved beyond seven digits; fittingly, @Google is the latest, and they celebrated the occasion earlier today with this tweet.

Moreover, four Twitter users now have more than two million followers – Kutcher, Ellen Degeneres (@TheEllenShow), Britney Spears (@BritneySpears) and CNN. Kutcher is quite a ways in front – some 300,000 on Ellen – and @Oprah should join this group in a couple of weeks.

At the back of the pack, @NPRPolitics should be the next account to breach one million, with @Mashable and @MCHammer duking it out for the #27 spot.

I’ve discussed the benefits of breaching the one million mark – it’s a big deal for anybody with something to promote, like a brand or a blog. Even if we assume the relevancy and interests within these networks is quite small, such as 10-20 per cent, that’s still a huge number of people who will click on your links, certainly over the course of a month. Despite what many think, it does matter, and as these numbers build to 10, 20 million, and more, over the next year or two, the people at the top of this hill are going to have enormous power and influence, if only in all the websites they break with a single re-tweet.