Thursday, March 10, 2011

Social Media Genius?

By: Kristin Rabas, Account Executive, Leonard & Finco Public Relations, Inc.
What can be said about Charlie Sheen? From movie and television star to recovering addict to unemployed “winner,” Sheen has been in the public eye and has not been shy about sharing his true feelings as he goes through life.

Even years ago there would be news stories about Sheen’s wild behavior or trips to rehab and I always thought that the negative publicity would hurt his career. As it seems now, many would agree with me, including the “Two and a Half Men” executives, who recently cancelled production of the sitcom’s remaining episodes due to Sheen’s recent behavior and then fired him from the show.

However, much to my surprise, the whole Sheen situation has been like a car accident you can’t look away from. He’s done interview after interview after interview talking trash about a variety of people and in some cases sounds a little insane. Nonetheless, it seems like people are liking it or are so infatuated with the wonder of what he’ll say next that they can’t turn away. Either way, Sheen is everywhere.

While it may be difficult for Sheen to get back into the acting world anytime soon, he has jumped into the world of social media head first, telling TMZ that it’s “a cash cow.” Sheen joined Twitter, with a quickly verified account, on March 1. Less than 26 hours later, Sheen had more than one million followers. In less than 10 days, his followers were up to 2.6 million. With this kind of following, the possibilities are endless.

It will be interesting to see how this saga continues to unfold. What I’m curious to know is, after all the hype dies down and there’s another celebrity making headlines, will Sheen be able to capitalize on his instant social media success? Or do you think once the hype is over, everyone will move on to the next big thing and all the attention will be for nothing? Will Charlie Sheen be a social media genius?

Follow me on Twitter: @krabas

3 comments:

Beth said...

Hopefully Sheen will get his act together soon and when he's trying to repair his damaged image, social media could be a great outlet for him!

Unknown said...

Sheen's Klout score is 91. People not only hang on to everything he says, but they also re-tweet it! For a score that high in that short of time, I think he has social media down pat. However, I think people will lose interest if he gets less crazy.

Like you stated, "the whole Sheen situation has been like a car accident," but what happens when the crazy comments/car accident go away? People lose interest.

Great article!

kr said...

I agree with Cascas.lannoye. One month ago all you heard about was Charlie Sheen and now all I've heard in the last week I've only heard tidbits here and ther. The frenzy is already slowing down significantly. It will be interesting to see if he keeps his strong presence on social media months from now.