Ashton Kutcher was under fire last week for an online ad featuring him as a 39-year-old Indian. The ad for American snack brand PopChips, that was posted online on Wednesday, was taken off YouTube and Facebook immediately after viewers called it ‘racist’.

This week, Kutcher is making headlines again, this time for his portrayal of Steve Jobs in an upcoming movie.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

Ashton Kutcher conversation topic cloud (last week)

Conversations around Kutcher were 40% negative last week.

Ashton Kutcher conversation topic cloud (past 30 days)

Conversations around Kutcher have been an average of 68% positive this month. ‘Racism’ appeared in 16% of conversations, while ‘Steve Jobs’ appeared in 15% of conversations.

Though some questioned Kutcher’s casting as Jobs, conversations mentioning Steve Jobs and Ashton Kutcher were 79% positive.

PopChips buzz

PopChips mentions increased 52X following the commercial incident May 3.

PopChips conversation analysis

Conversations around PopChips went from nearly all positive to 62% negative following the commercial fiasco.

For further analysis, visit http://infegy.com/socialradar.

Television host/Emmy Award winner/philanthropist/billionaire Oprah Winfrey @oprah has decided to send her first tweet during live TV today.

Ashton Kutcher @aplusk will be be Oprah’s guest, discussing today’s win in the race to a million followers over CNN @cnnbrk and Britney Spears @britneyspears.

What does it mean for the future of social media? TechCrunch wonders if soccer moms will take over the service.

Check out the trend chart below. Even someone with a reputation as established as Oprah’s — one of the most powerful people in the world — is trending up in chatter the last few days thanks to Twitter. Her buzz should continue to rise today after the show airs. The topic cloud below represents topics of conversation on the web related to Oprah over the last two days.

Social media is evolving. Kutcher gets it. “For one person to actually have the ability to broadcast to as many people as a major media network, sort of signifies the turning of the tide from tradition news outlets to social news outlets,” Kutcher said in a YouTube video.

It’s exciting news. As Brian Solis said in his blog, we participate in social media to express ourselves. We become media. We become influencers. Solis goes on to discuss the potential of social media to empower individuals moving forward.

What’s next? Googlezon may be here before 2014.