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Charlie Sheen’s reputation is improving —his business reputation, that is.
Our friends at Entertainment Weekly reported that Charlie Sheen has set the Guinness World Record for “Fastest Time to Reach 1 Million Followers.” It only took him 25 hours and 17 minutes to reach the feat; meanwhile, NewsFeed is slowly crawling its way to 8,000. (Follow us!). He already held the record for “Highest Paid TV Actor Per Episode — Current.” (Obviously, not any longer.)
(More on TIME.com: See the 7 best Charlie Sheen memes)
So, how exactly did Sheen get the @CharlieSheen account and verify his account in a matter of hours? Forbes reports it’s all thanks to ad agency Ad.ly, a Hollywood company that focuses on celebrity Twitter endorsements. Sheen’s friend reached out to the company and told them the actor wanted to communicate directly with his fans. The company set up the account, called Sheen and explained the basics of Twitter to him. Sheen told TMZ the reason that he joined the social media site was to make cash from endorsed tweets, and with celebrities like Kim Kardashian making a reported $10,000 per posting, the fact that Sheen has so many followers makes him appealing to advertisers. Interestingly, Ad.ly did not charge Sheen for setting up his account – but we bet they’re being compensated for helping him get sponsors.
The money-making power of Sheen’s tweets is already apparent. Ray Broguiere, the owner of the company of that makes the milk Sheen was holding in his first TwitPic, told TMZ he’s been inundated with calls to his farm since the tweet. He didn’t pay for the mention and says he is extremely grateful for the publicity – and has even offered to give Sheen free milk if he stops by the farm.
Maybe this was Sheen’s plan all along: turn his life into a train wreck, get the whole world to watch and then reap money from advertisers who want to cash in on the attention. If that’s so, he’s outsmarted us. It must be something in the tiger’s blood.
(More on TIME.com: See the Five Most Bizarre Celebrity Interviews)