He's really just chronicling what happened while expressing astonishment at the traction the story got (and the consequences thereof).
Oh, I know it, and I'm sure I would've felt similar in his position. I just responded to the previous comment so that other people wouldn't have to go back to the article to see if they'd misread something, the way that I did.
"By the end of the Tuesday, I had about 2000 new followers and twitter notifications that literally were flying by at a high speed."
"I’m now (end of Wednesday, 60 hours since the check-in counter) at 3000 more twitter followers than what I started out with this Monday morning."
Two direct references to a count, one indirect reference.