Tuesday night, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White officially crossed the 1 million follower threshold on Twitter. But how? And with what strategy? More importantly, so what?

Although social networks have millions of users, in some cases hundreds of millions of users, there are actually less than 220 individuals or brands on Twitter who have ever passed the 1 million follower mark. And of those brands and individuals, few if any are Presidents of organizations–not to mention sports organizations.

Even fewer have the degree of two-way communication that Dana has with his followers. Communication that includes breaking news and rewarding followers in a personal way with everything from event tickets to autographed items. Communication that entails responding to followers–even if that means being blunt.

And that’s where strategy steps in. Through Twitter, Dana uniquely humanizes the UFC brand. Sure, a million followers are great but what’s the bigger picture? Dana White and the UFC brand now have a combined, tight-knit community of 1.3 million followers that not only disseminates news, but often dictates trending topics. The UFC’s social media efforts demonstrate that they listen to fans, engage with fans and deliver valuable information where, when and how fans want to receive it. The entire organization understands the value of this new form of communication. That’s pretty powerful.