March 7th, 2011
How Charlie Sheen and Other Stars Get Paid to Tweet
The Wall Street Journal
Charlie Sheen’s deal with Ad.ly, a Los Angeles-based company that brokers social network endorsements for brands like Toyota, Hyatt and Microsoft, is perhaps the highest profile example of a celebrity getting paid to tweet. The news puts a spotlight on the emerging trend of companies compensating celebrities who have large Twitter followers like Kim Kardashian and Lauren Conrad to talk about their brands through social media.
The practice has been criticized by some social media users, but Ad.ly CEO Arnie Gullov-Singh doesn’t believe Twitter fans are turned off by their favorite stars pushing products. “If you go on Twitter or Facebook and you’re a moderately active user, you’re getting content all day long from your friends, your family and people you don’t know,” Gullov-Singh said. “You click on links that you think are going to be interesting based on who they’re from.”
According to Gullov-Singh, Ad.ly has yet to pair the “Two and Half Men” star and admitted cocaine user with a brand. “We’re just trying to let the dust settle and field the inquiries,” he said of Sheen’s new tweet-for-pay career. “The biggest problem we’re having now is figuring out what it’s worth. Everything he posts turns into a trending topic.”
Ad.ly counts a number of athletes and entertainers among its roster, including Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Kevin Pollack, Lamar Odom and Mike Tyson. Gullov-Singh believes that celebrities are currently the ideal brand endorsers in terms of social media because of the influence they have, their fan loyalty and, as he put it, “their ability to move the needle.”
Read more: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/03/06/how-charlie-sheen-and-other-stars-get-paid-to-tweet/