There has been so much news about Charlie Sheen that I’m just going to assume that everyone knows about the media blitz that has been going on in the wake of his suspension and subsequent firing from Two and a Half Men, so I won’t go in to detail about all of that.
I will say that I applied to become his social media intern, along with probably thousands of other applicants. Why would I want to work for a known drug addict and porn star aficionado?
Well, you can’t get a social media personality more high profile than this right now. He broke the Guinness World Record for fastest twitter user to 1 million followers (less than 24 hours, beating @ConanOBrien’s previous record) and already has over 2 million. His Ustream web show Sheen’s Korner had over 1 million viewers in the two airings so far. Like I said, you can’t get a more prolific social media presence to work with.
It’s basically a fail proof gig. If anything goes wrong, will anyone blame the intern on this one? Really? Everyone will be too focused on the trainwreck that has become Charlie Sheen’s life. His long-term Publicist resigned because he was off doing his own thing, spouting how special he is curing addiction with his brain and tigerblood. His publicist couldn’t contain him, there’s no way a social media intern will be able to. So if the social media accounts go off the deep-end, well people will know who to blame.
There’s no such thing as bad publicity. If Charlie Sheen has taught us anything, it’s this. This was common knowledge, but then with technology and google searches, it seemed like the old saying wasn’t true anymore. But Charlie Sheen has some of the worst PR Buzz going on right now and he’s more famous than ever, doing interviews left and right and even accomplishing something that few have been able to – monetizing his online notoriety. Whoever Charlie selects for his intern will become the news story. When people will think of a social media intern or coordinator, they’ll think of the lucky (or poor depending on your view point) kid who was Charlie Sheen’s intern. With that type of publicity, after this you might not even have to job search. The jobs could come to you.
And, to top it all off, it’s something I actually want to do. I am currently job searching for social media positions, so this fits right in my skill set. I wouldn't recommend applying to this job if you don't actually want to do social media. I just don't see how this would further any other career, except maybe for people who want to springboard this notoriety to reality television stardom. And even that is a long shot, because it's not like the social media intern will be getting a lot of air time. Social media work is behind the scenes, adopting other people and brand's voices so people don't even realize someone is working.
Do you think I’m crazy for applying? Let me know in the comments!
