Twitter is proving to be a popular destination for television celebrities once they find themselves removed from the small screen. Take Conan O'Brien, for instance, who can probably attribute some of his post-Tonight Show success to the social media presence he built up following his split with NBC.
The latest television star to find himself on the popular microblogging site, however, might be the most interesting, and not necessarily in a good way.
After finding his show cancelled and going on a media rampage against his former employer, Charlie Sheen is now on Twitter. The world can thank a company called Ad.ly for Sheen's new Twitter account, which has acquired nearly one million followers in little more than a day.
Ad.ly is a company that facilitates social media endorsements (read: paid tweets) on Twitter and Facebook, and according to Arnie Gullov-Singh, the company's CEO, Sheen is "probably the biggest name in media right now".
So his company couldn't help but reach out to Sheen's people and arrange for the (former) Two and Half Men star to offer up bizarre behavior 140 characters at a time.
Many, of course, think that the attention being lavished on Sheen is unwarranted, and many also believe that it's tragic given Sheen's behavior.
After all, some believe Sheen is not in the best mental condition, which has sparked an intense debate over the role the media and journalists may be playing in making a potentially bad situation worse.
With this debate in mind, Sheen's newfound Twitter fame raises some interesting questions:
- Is Ad.ly taking advantage of Sheen by signing him up for Twitter, ostensibly in hopes that it can monetize his popularity? Some of Ad.ly's celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian, reportedly earn five-figure payouts for single tweets, so Sheen's new Twitter account is, on paper, a valuable asset for Ad.ly.
- In rushing to give Sheen the CharlieSheen username and verify his account, something it rarely does these days, is Twitter also taking advantage of Sheen to ensure that its platform becomes a big part of an eyeball-grabbing media circus? Already, Sheen is reportedly one of the most talked-about subjects on Twitter, so having him tweeting is certainly a boon for the site's traffic.
- Are there any mainstream marketers that would actually consider associating their brands with Sheen? According to the company, it has more than 1,000 of "the most influential celebrities on Facebook and Twitter" in its stable, " to execute "scalable endorsements that engage and resonate." Yet it's unclear whether Sheen is the "right celebrity" for any brand at this pointright celebrities.
Obviously, Sheen is an adult, and he hasn't, for instance, been involuntarily committed. So there's an argument to be made that nothing unethical is going on here, even if it leaves some shaking their heads in dismay.
Given that professionals think something is probably amiss with Sheen, it's worth wondering whether Ad.ly and Twitter have taken themselves down a very low road.
From this perspective, the story behind Sheen's Twitter account reveals that social media is a lot more like the traditional media than most would like to believe.
Social media is supposed to be more authentic and empathetic; relationships and substance are said to matter. Even the people behind some of the most popular social media properties, like Twitter, try to promote 'social good' through their their platforms.
But when it comes right down to it, @CharlieSheen suggests that underneath the facade, social media is just as interested in eyeballs and money, whatever the human cost, as traditional media.
COMMENTARY: It's funny how celebrity bad boys and girls gain such popularity on both Twitter and Facebook. When I last looked Charlie had 1.4 million follower's, but as you can see from the above image, Charlie now has 1.8 million followers. And, from the looks of things, Charlie has been tweeting like a madman, no pun intended, this weekend. Good work Charlie. I just followed you.
Ad.ly, which specializes in "Celebrity Endorsements in Social Media", makes a good point about Charlie Sheen's endorsement value. 1.8 million follower's is a serious number of followers, but most importantly, they represent potential consumer's of Ad.ly's 150 brands. I would not be surprised if Charlie's follower's will be seeing Promoted Tweet ads in the very near future, in spite of Charlie's bad behavior. Money talks, bullshit walks.
This is a stretch, but it would not surprise me if Charlie Sheen shows up on a future reality TV show. The two millinneial chicks, the smoking, and weird shinanigans, it will be a hit, me thinks. If Palin can have her show, Charlie deserves one too.
Hollywood can change people very fast--the night life, the beautiful women and good looking guys, the paparazzi, the limo's, swanky Rodeo Drive night clubs. Soon it was discovered that Charlie was a troubled young man (45 years), who drank and took drugs, supposedly threatened to kill his ex-wife. Yet with all the turmoil in Charlie's personal life, he took CBS' successful comedy series, "Two And A Half Men", to the top of the charts.
This is what CBS says about "Two And A Half Men",
Emmy Award nominated TWO AND A HALF MEN has been the Number One-rated sitcom on television for the past four seasons. It's a comedy about men, women, sex, dating, divorce, mothers, single parenthood, sibling relations, surrogate families, money and, most importantly, love. More specifically, it's about the lives of two brothers, one brother's son, and the many women who surround them. Charlie Harper is a well-to-do bachelor with a house at the beach, a Mercedes in the garage and an easy way with women. His casual Malibu lifestyle was interrupted when his tightly wound brother, Alan, and Alan's son, Jake, came to stay with him. Complicating matters further are Charlie and Alan's narcissistic, emotionally toxic mother, Evelyn; Alan's deeply neurotic ex-wife, Judith and Charlie's domineering, unapologetically blue-collar housekeeper, Berta. Despite the complexities of their lives and their own strained relationship, Charlie and Alan have one thing in common - they both love Jake and want what's best for him. As a result, they manage to create a little family unit that promises to make each of them a better man.
I thought Charlie Sheen was miss0-casted, and that it was a nutty decision to hire Charlie Sheen to do the series when it was first announced by CBS, but Hollywood producer's like what they saw in Charlie. They forgave him for his whore mongering traits, wild drinking episodes, run-ins with the Hollywood paparazzi and the law, and the women.
I knew Charlie was always a Hollywood "bad boy", a sharp contrast to his actor father Martin Sheen, but with all the celeb chatter about Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Mel Gibson, etc, I completely lost track of Charlie, so I thought I would do some research on his run-ins with the law and escapades. Fortunately, I didn't have to look too far, The Hollywood Reporter, published a very detailed timeline of Charlie Sheen in an article titled, "A Timeline of Charlie Sheen's Strange Legal Woes".
That's not all. there's more The good people of The Hollywood Reporter also published a list of all of Charlie Sheen's interviews titled, "Charlie Sheen's Wildest TV Interviews". A most appropriate title if there ever was.
All the articles and video's of Charlie Sheen are enough to keep anybody busy for an entire weekend, but I gave it a good try. What a hillarious and, if I may say so, weird and mentally disturbed guy. Whatever happened to the Bud Fox character in the movie Wall Street. He makes Gordon Geckko look nice by comparison, and you all know how I feel about Wall Street bankers.
Although "Two And A Half Men" was the top rated sitcom on televison, CBS felt it was necessary to cancel the 2011 series season, and in the process put the careers of the other actors and film crew on hold. Now Charlie is suing CBS for the lost income ($1.2 to $2.0 million per episode, and more than any other TV actor) from the episodes that he would've been paid for after the cancellation of the show. Not only does Charlie want that money, but he wants a raise--$3 million per episode. Ahh, Charlie, has a lot of cohones.
Today, quite by accident, I saw Charlie's latest TV interview on MSNBC and the one for '20/20', and learned that he has two live-in girlfriends, both in their mid-twenties. I thought they were daughters from a previous marriage. LOL. When asked about the two chicks, Charlie said, "they don't prejudge me". I do a lot of research about Millennial's, and am left wondering if this is a common trait among the chicks in that demographic. I know they love iPads, Facebook, President Obama, get most of their news online, care for the environment, but living with an actor, two at a time. Hmmmm. No wonder his ex-wife took custody of their children.
In the MSNBC interview, Charlie waived a piece of paper he claims says he is free of drugs. He says, "I get well fast", "I have tiger blood", "dying is for fools" and other crazy things. The drug test aside, I really do hope that Charlie Sheen is able to seek the right mental help and square away his life for the good of his children. On a more positive note, I noticed that Charlie is a San Francisco Giants fan. Go Giants!!
Okay, I'm out of here. I've got tiger blood. Time to login to Twitter and check what kind of chinanigans Charlie is up to.
Courtesy of an article dated March 3, 2011 appearing in eConsultancy, The Hollywood Reporter and CBS
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