Unless you’ve been hanging out in North Korea or have been more occupied with finding a hiding place within the labyrinths of Benghazi, then you’ve probably heard about new Twitter king Charlie Sheen and his Joaquin Phoenix-like ‘breakdown’.
The aging actor has been cavorting around social media this week with 25 Tweets and a following of almost 1.5 million followers, but his management’s approach to saving their client’s career through Twitter has been interesting.
Apparently Sheen has a digital manager (ah, what we could all do for one of those) who contacted celebrity-endorsement company ad.ly to see what they could do for Sheen.
Then, according to TechCrunch, they called Omid Ashtari, Twitter’s business development and Hollywood liaison, who took over/paid for the @CharlieSheen mantle from a squatter and the legend was born.
This all, naturally, led me to thinking about a more authentic Hollywood legend who undoubtedly would have had a digital manager and would have been absolutely marvellous if Twitter had been around in her day.
Marilyn Monroe would have been a natural. ‘Just returned from White House, President had a very happy birthday LOL.’, or ‘Jane Russell is 2 much fun, but cwazy. I’ll live longer than her’ or even ‘Those Nembutal were nice, but feeling awfully cold’ would have enthralled millions around the world.
Furthermore, her digital manager would have been in constant contact with Chanel and it is with utter confidence that I can say the first celebrity-endorsed Tweet, even though Twitter didn’t exist when she said it, was: ‘What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No 5 of course.’
Imagine the fee that her manager would have demanded from ad.ly for that little diamond? Or come to think of it, the world’s diamond cartel would have given her billions to Tweet ‘diamonds are a girl’s best friend’. This woman was made for Twitter, not for movies!
Anyway, back in the so-called real world and somewhat more depressingly, Sheen’s management are just waiting for the chance for Sheen’s first paid Tweet. But what will it be? Something about pick-up trucks, glamour girls or, surprise-surprise, how wonderful his show Two and a Half Men is?
I don’t really care, but what I do notice is that @marilynmonroe has only 448 followers and is an advertising opportunity begging to be realised. Chanel! De Beers! Think laterally!… Think money!… Think SOCIAL!
Monty Munford has more than 15 years' experience in mobile, digital media, web and journalism. He is the founder of Mob76, a company that helps tech companies raise money and exit. He speaks regularly at global media events with a focus on Africa, writes a weekly column for The Telegraph, is a regular contributor to The Economist, Wired, Mashable and speaks regularly on the BBC World Service.
