Warner Bros. Television and CBS confirmed Friday that Ashton Kutcher will replace Charlie Sheen on the top-rated comedy series Two and a Half Men.
The Hollywood Reporter published the first reports of the deal Thursday, which will mark Kutcher’s first return to network television since That ’70s Show. For his part, Kutcher tweeted, “what’s the square root of 6.25″ from his account on Thursday evening. The answer, of course, is two and a half.
With Kutcher, CBS and Warner Bros. Television are looking for an actor that can step in for Charlie Sheen and perhaps bring in a new audience of his own. Sheen’s meteoric meltdown not-withstanding, Two and a Half Men is a show that has never been overtly social. Charlie Sheen only joined Twitter after being suspended from Two and a Half Men. Kutcher could offer the show, its producers and the network and opportunity to engage with fans in a way that isn’t all about spectacle and meme-tastic quotes about “tiger blood.”
With 6.7 million Twitter followers and a sizable following on Facebook, Kutcher is one of the most socially connected celebrities in the entertainment business. The big question now that he has joined the show is, what impact will his social media presence have on the show’s ratings?
Christy Tanner, the general manager and executive vice president of TV Guide Digital, alluded to Kutcher’s new role in her presentation at Mashable Connect on Friday. We spoke to her after the presentation to get more insight into the potential impact Kutcher and his social fanbase could have on the show. “Two and a Half Men won’t live or die by social media,” Tanner told us. “The show will continue to be successful if fans continue to find the show funny.”
That isn’t to say that social media won’t have any impact on the show. “This is an incredible opportunity for Two and a Half Men, Chuck Lorre, Warner Bros. Television and CBS to leverage Ashton’s Kutcher’s tremendous social media following,” Tanner said.
The key, as with everything, is with execution. After all, Kutcher’s Twitter following and strong presence in social media hasn’t helped make his films successful at the box office. As Tanner pointed out to us, however, film and television can be very different, especially when it comes to social media.
With a weekly series, rather than just one opening weekend, Kutcher, CBS and Lorre will have the opportunity to see what works and what doesn’t. According to Tanner, “this could be a great opportunity to see what can move the needle with social media and its impact on engagement and ratings.”
For his part, Charlie Sheen told TMZ that Men will fail without him, saying, “Enjoy the show America. Enjoy seeing a 2.0 in the demo every Monday, WB.”
We’ll see. It’s certainly hard to imagine an Ashton-infused Two and a Half Men doing any worse than Sheen’s one-man shows. Do you think Ashton’s social media savvy will have a positive impact on Two and a Half Men? Let us know.
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Using a grab bag of promotions, Frito-Lay set the Guinness World Record for Facebook Page “Likes” within a 24-hour period.
The Guinness organization verified the claim Thursday. Frito-Lay’s final tally was 1,571,161 “Likes” April 11-12.
To achieve the feat, Frito-Lay ran a few promotions at once, including a replica of the company’s Flavor Kitchen in New York City’s Times Square and live demonstrations on its Facebook Page. The company also tied in with Zynga’s FarmVille and let players harvest sponsored in-game crops to earn virtual goods.
As a reward for setting the record (which is new; there was no previous record holder), Frito-Lay is giving away a coupon for a free bag of chips to the first 24,000 consumers who “Liked” the Page and registered for the prize.
If Frito-Lay’s record sounds familiar, that’s because Oreo tried to set a similar record in February for the most Facebook “Likes” within a 24-hour period. But, unlike this latest record, that was for Likes related to a status update, not for the Page itself. Oreo failed in its attempt after rapper Lil Wayne asked his fans to set the record, which they did, with 588,243 “Likes.” Meanwhile, Charlie Sheen set another new Guinness World Record in early March for the “Fastest Person to Reach 1 Million Followers on Twitter.”
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When it comes to brand building, there are basically two schools of thought: “Build it and they will come” and “brainwash the masses.”
The latter is based on the belief that any publicity is good publicity. If you get your name out there, the rest will fall in to place. A good example of this philosophy is GoldenPalace.com, which recently bought Justin Bieber’s hair, and in the past has purchased William Shatner’s kidney stone for the free publicity.
At the moment, Internships.com fits the latter category as well. If you’ve heard of the brand, it’s most likely due to a single effective marketing campaign: An endorsement by Charlie Sheen via Twitter.
When Sheen joined Twitter on March 1, it’s safe to say he wasn’t a great fit with a lot of brands. Sheen had just had a major falling out with Chuck Lorre, the producer of Sheen’s hit show Two and a Half Men and gave a series of bizarre interviews. It was clear that the star was something of a train wreck, and, to many, a fascinating one at that. Sheen became a trending topic on Twitter and, when he joined, set the Guinness World Record by getting 1 million followers in about 25 hours.
That combination of public pariah and social media star had appeal for a brand that was chiefly concerned with creating awareness. But Internships.com and Sheen needed a matchmaker.
That’s where Ad.ly came in. Founded in 2009 by Sean Rad, Ad.ly sought to link celebrities with social media endorsements. The firm first came on a lot of people’s radars when it arranged for client Kim Kardashian to receive $10,000 per tweet for spreading the message about Carl’s Jr., a fast food chain. By now, Ad.ly claims more than 1,000 celebrities, who make endorsements on behalf of some 150 brands.
As it so happens, Internships.com’s CEO, Robin Richards, sits on Ad.ly’s board. Nevertheless, the year-old company — which connects internship seekers with companies offering internships — had some stipulations for working with Ad.ly and Sheen. “There were two things we needed to make sure of,” says Kat Garcia, a rep for Internships.com. “We needed to make sure this was a legitimate internship and it was a paid internship.”
The eight-week internship is real, but it’s a little odd — the winner gets to manage Charlie Sheen’s social media operations. It also pays — $10 an hour.
With those specifications in place, Sheen gave his tweet/plug on March 7: “I’m looking to hire a #winning INTERN with #TigerBlood. Apply here – http://bit.ly/hykQQF #TigerBloodIntern #internship #ad.”
The response to Sheen’s tweet was immediate. Within the first hour, the tweet got 95,333 clicks. A week later, the offer got more than 82,000 replies. “It’s been overwhelming in a positive way,” Garcia says.
While the promotion was undeniably successful in getting responses to the internship, it’s not clear that Internships.com can build a brand off of it. The company, which had previously only run paid search advertising and the occasional print ad, is now known to most people as an extension of the Charlie Sheen brand.
Rob Frankel, a Los Angeles-based branding expert, says that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but that this appears to be nothing more or less than a publicity stunt. “Awareness for awareness’s sake never works,” he says. “Cancer has a high awareness, but how many people want it?” Frankel says he believes that an attention-getting strategy is fine as long as it ties in with what the brand is offering — for him, the fact that the promotion is around a Charlie Sheen internship doesn’t cut it.
When asked if there are potential downfalls to being yoked to Sheen — what if he dies for instance? — Lindsay Plotkin, another rep for Internships.com, sidestepped the question, focusing instead on what the promotion has meant for Internships’s brand. “It kind of propelled us from maybe not being as well known to being a contender in this space,” she says.
Potential concerns aside, Internships.com still has control of some of the message. One of the cleverer aspects of the campaign is that a single tweet launched a story arc for Internships.com. After narrowing down the field, the winner of the contest should be announced in a few weeks, no doubt providing more free publicity. After that, it will be up to Internships.com to plan what it will do with its newfound awareness. When asked, however, if anyone has successfully built a brand with publicity stunts, Frankel thought for a second. “I can’t think of anyone that has,” he said. “That should tell you something.”
The Behind the Social Media Campaign Series is supported by Oneupweb, an award-winning agency specializing in search marketing, social media and design for mid-to-enterprise level brands. Download Oneupweb’s free whitepaper, “The Bloody Truth about Social Media” to learn how to cut through the clutter and be sure to catch up with them on Facebook and Twitter.
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Sheen’s public meltdown was one of the top trending topics of the month on Twitter, according to our friends at What The Trend. Sheen’s series of social media activities — joining Twitter, breaking the Guinness World Record for reaching 1 million users in the fastest time and then using his Twitter feed as advertising — consumed social media conversations early in the month, but then faded out.
Unlike Sheen, whose public falling out with his Two and a Half Men producer and the network were brewing for some time, the month’s other big curiosity, Rebecca Black, seemed to come out of nowhere. The likely impetus for the 13-year-old’s fame was Tosh.O’s blog, which cited Black’s video “Friday” on March 11 with the headline “Songwriting Isn’t for Everyone.” Black’s video, now at close to 70 million views on YouTube, had just the right so-bad-it’s-good vibe to ensure its viral success.
While Sheen and Black dominated a lot of discussion in social media this month, it’s heartening to see that they didn’t eclipse the unthinkable tragedy in Japan, which continues to be a major topic of discussion.
For the full list, check out our chart below. Because this is a topical list, hashtag memes and games have been omitted from the chart.
You can check past Twitter trends in our Top Twitter Topics section.
Rank | Topic | Intensity | Description |
#1 | Japan Earthquake/Tsunami | 5 | A massive 8.9 magnitude quake hit the northeast Japan at approximately 2:46PM local time on Friday, March 11th, causing devastating flooding from 10 metre (32 feet) tsunamis that hit the eastern coastline . The tsunami also affect countries around the Pacific rim. There also has been ongoing concern about variations in radiation levels at several nuclear reactors around the county. |
#2 | Rebecca Black | 4 | Rebecca Black is a 13 year old singer from Orange County, California with a music video on YouTube that many people find amusing or annoying. Her video has been viewed more than 65 million times. |
#3 | Charlie Sheen | 4 | Actor Charlie Sheen gave interviews on a variety of TV & radio talk shows after the TV series Two & a Half Men ceased production. Users are ReTweeting messages from the real as well as fake CharIie Sheen accounts. They are also talking about Sheen’s Saturday night Ustream webcast. |
#4 | Soccer/Football | 3 | There was a lot of excitement over the unveiling of a new site for the the Sao Paulo Football Club. Barcelona’s French international defender Eric Abidal will undergo emergency surgery . Gilson Kleina will take over as interim coach of the Fluminense Football Club. There was also a friendly match between the USA & Argentina. |
#5 | U.K. Comic Relief | 2 | Red Nose Day is part of the UK Comic Relief campaign, an annual charity fundraiser held each March by the BBC. Funds are raised by a telethon and also by various “fun” events by celebrities, businesses and members of the public across the UK. It included Chris Moyles’ (of BBC Radio 1) attempt to set the record for the longest ever radio show, by broadcasting for 50 hours. |
#6 | Justin Bieber | 2 | March 1st was Justin Bieber’s 17th birthday and fans wished him a happy birthday. Beliebers celebrated the fact that their idol has finally reached 8 million followers. |
#7 | Harry Potter Movie Series | 2 | Harry Potter-related trends begin to trend when HP films are shown around the world, especially in Indonesia. There was also a debate between Harry Potter & Twilight fans on which book/movie series was superior. |
#8 | Carnival | 2 | Carnival was celebrated in many countries around the world but most trends are originating from Brazil. Carnival was marked by parties and parades sponsored by Samba schools which are broadcast on Brazilian TV. |
#9 | NCAA March Madness | 2 | Throughout the month of March 2011, college basketball fans Tweeted about teams they were following in the NCAA Basketball Tournament as they moved to the Final Four: Butler, UConn, UK and VCU.. |
#10 | Lady GaGa | 2 | Several big events in March for Lady Gaga’s Little Monsters including her 25th birthday, the debut of the music video for “Born This Way”, and her Twitter account obtaining 9 million followers. |
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, 123render
Interested in more Twitter resources? Check out Mashable Explore, a new way to discover information on your favorite Mashable topics.More About: charlie sheen, japan, List, Lists, Rebecca Black, social media, Top Twitter Topics, trends, twitter
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If you’re wondering why the Japanese earthquake didn’t hit this week’s top Twitter trends chart, it’s because the majority of the data was aggregated before the quake hit on Friday. We expect to see talk of the news and devastation to show strongly on next week’s chart.
Meanwhile, the Twitterverse still belongs to Charlie Sheen, his social media popularity fueled by some strange livestreaming and a tweeted search for a new intern.
The pre-Lent festivities of Carnival sent some trend power by way of Brazil, a nation known for passionate tweeting. Commonly referred to as “Mardi Gras” here in the States, the party took the number two spot on this week’s chart.
And International Women’s Day appeared on Twitter’s radar at the middle of the week and trended strong enough to earn the bronze. People from around the world tweeted about the accomplishments and struggles of women in the workforce.
For the full list of top trends, check out the chart below, compiled by our friends at What the Trend. Because this is a topical list, hashtag memes and games have been omitted from the chart.
You can check past Twitter trends in our Top Twitter Topics section, and read more about this past week’s trends on What The Trend.
Top Twitter Trends This Week: 3/4 – 3/11
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, 123render
More About: charlie sheen, social media, social media lists, Top Twitter Topics, twitter
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Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world. We’re keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today.
Tweets Pour in from Japan After Massive Quake
A powerful 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck the coast of Japan on Friday, causing widespread power outages, fires and a severe tsunami. With the country’s phone system knocked out, the number of tweets coming from Tokyo were topping 1,200 per minute within the first hour. Google has also set up an online crisis center for victims and concerned parties.
iPad 2 Now Available for Online Purchase
The iPad 2 is now available for purchase in Apple’s online store and will be available at retail locations at 5 p.m. local time today.
Charlie Sheen Death Hoax Spreads Malware Through Facebook
A malware scam announcing Charlie Sheen‘s alleged death has been spreading through Facebook.
Further News
Google has enhanced its voice calling feature in Gmail. Now, users can click on phone numbers and call them instantly instead of typing numbers in manually.Google now allows users to block websites they don’t want to see.Just days after AOL completed its acquisition of The Huffington Post, the Internet company announced layoffs of hundreds of employees in an effort to reorganize its editorial operation.YouTube expects to have its biggest hiring year in 2011, with plans to grow its staff by 30%.L’Oreal announced a new program Thursday that will enable the more than 4,000 salons carrying its professional line of products to begin marketing systematically on Facebook.After no fewer than 10 beta releases, Firefox 4 has finally entered the “release candidate” stage.Picplz has released a new features called collections, which allows users to create playlists with their photos.Apple has changed its policy for in-app purchases to prevent users, especially children, from accidentally purchasing virtual goods.The Washington Post has launched @innovations, a Tumblr blog meant to showcase the news organization’s digital features and discuss the changing media landscape.Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59
More About: charlie sheen, facebook, first to know series, iPad 2, japan, tsunami
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If you’ve been clicking on links and videos about Charlie Sheen‘s alleged death, you’ve been had by the latest social media malware scam.
Several similar headlines have been spreading around Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter. They begin with “RIP!” or “Breaking News” and contain text to the effect that actor Charlie Sheen has died in his house or due to cardiac arrest.
Clicking on these links takes the user to a fake YouTube-clone page, where any click on any part of the screen will begin spreading the scam on the user’s own Facebook profile. Then, the user is asked to complete a survey before viewing the video, which adds a lead-gen layer to the click-jacking scheme. Finally, some folks are reporting being infected with malware after visiting the site, as well.
It’s a triple whammy of a Facebook hoax, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time for users. We’ve been seeing the actor on a social media blitz after his news media meltdown; he’s taken channels such as Twitter and UStream by storm over the past few days.
The scammers behind this malware have without doubt capitalized on Charlie Sheen’s recent insanity-fueled popularity, especially via social media channels. The actor hasn’t yet commented on the hoax publicly; we’re hoping he at least sends a message to fans from his Twitter account.
If you’ve already clicked links like the one above, first, go through your security settings and revoke any access for apps you don’t recall signing up for. Next, go through your profile and delete any spammy posts you may have sent out. (We’ve written in detail about exactly how to deal with Facebook click-jacking scams; reference that link if you need step-by-step instructions.) Finally, you might want to fire up your antivirus software and make sure your computer isn’t infected.
To the rest of you, safe clicking, and warn your friends about this scam.
More About: charlie sheen, facebook, malware, scam, security, twitter
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Ah, how fickle fame can be when you’re rendered an Internet meme that draws its strength from insanity. Yup, the web is starting to grow weary of Mr. Charlie Sheen’s antics, as evidenced by Tinted Sheen, the Charlie Sheen Browser Blocker.
Yep, this browser extension for Chrome and Firefox blacks out all mentions of Sheen and his antics (i.e., words like #winning) from your Internets. Download it today, unless you’re one of the legions of folks planning to apply for his ad-sponsored internship position — or you’re following his famous Twitter account.
This little extension was whipped up by Greg Leuch, who also created a hack that turns your Twitter icon into an animated GIF, and JESS3′s Ex-Blocker plugin (which my Stuff Hipsters Hate co-blogger and I contributed to) and does basically the same thing as Tinted Sheen, just with exes.
Will you nix Sheen from your digital world?
More About: charlie sheen, chrome, extension, Firefox
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Charlie Sheen has lost his day job, but he’s winning over sponsors — one of them, at least — on Twitter.
Earlier today, Sheen tweeted, “I’m looking to hire a #winning INTERN with #TigerBlood. Apply here – http://bit.ly/hykQQF #TigerBloodIntern #internship #ad.”
That link leads to a site from Internships.com, which paid for the mention, according to Krista Thomas, vice president of marketing at Ad.ly, which organized the deal between Sheen and the advertiser. Thomas says the tweet resulted in 8,000 in two minutes. Since the tweet was posted, there have been more than 127,000 clicks, she says. The tweet is the first such paid endorsement from Sheen’s Twitter feed since he joined the site March 1.
Last week, Sheen set a Guinness World Record for the least amount of time to reach 1 million followers on Twitter, a feat that took him 25 hours and 17 minutes. Sheen currently has more than 2 million followers on Twitter.
Ad.ly represents more than 1,000 celebrities on the microblogging service, according to the company’s website, including Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Kim Kardashian and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that CBS fired Sheen Monday from the sitcom Two and a Half Men.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Ash90291.
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Update 2: Charlie Sheen’s live show on Ustream has concluded, and now you can watch the video recording here. See the embed below.
Twitter sensation Charlie Sheen appeared live Saturday night at 10 Eastern (7 Pacific) on Ustream, an online video channel.
He called his Ustream netcast Sheen’s Korner.
Here’s Sheen’s tweet that announced the Ustream video netcast:
WORLD.. live 7:00p pacific time..! Tune in, turn on… Its #TigerBlood tonight!!
According to Sheen’s tweets, he settled a legal dispute with his wife with a verbal agreement, so maybe it was time for him to celebrate.
Commenters, what’s next for Charlie Sheen?
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