Last September I wrote a column titled Study Finds Celebrities Have Little Twitter Influence.
Just a few weeks later came Celebrities, Popularity, Influence - Part 2.
Now of course we are in the middle of Sheen Gate as now-former Two and a Half Star Charlie Sheen is making news, Social Media news that is, having amassed millions of followers faster than any human alive... or something like that.
And now he's apparently looking for a Social Media intern... my what a fine job that should turn out to be for some young boy or girl.
Yesterday, I read a story from the Washington Post website with the very-troubling title of:
Behind Sheen's tweet, a new world of advertising
I say "very-troubling" because as the title implies, and the article itself goes on to state, that celebrities and Social Media are a match made in endorsement heaven.
"Celebrities are social media... they are the driving force of social media."
I'm paraphrasing but those were the words of Arnie Gullov-Singh, CEO of Ad.ly, a Beverly Hills-based company which according to their website "...help brands connect with consumers via today's most influential celebrities, athletes and artists on Facebook, Twitter and more."
His company has matched many major brands with many major celebs who earn anywhere from $1,000 to the low five figures per tweet.
Look, I don't begrudge anyone from making am honest buck but "Celebrities are social media... they are the driving force of social media?"
Really?
I'm sure Mr. Gullov-Singh believes that but... please, someone, anyone tell me that this is not the case.
Please tell me that all the time I have invested in Social Media, all the friends I have made, all the connections, all the stories, news, articles, blogs, etc I would have never known of were it not for Social Media were all for nothing... that in reality, Social Media is only about celebrities and having rich people get richer as they shill for this product or that one.