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Conan O’Brien’s Twitter stunt turns tear-jerker

Posted on March 10th, 2010 at 11:32 by John Sinteur in category: awesome -- Write a comment

[Quote:]

When Conan O’Brien says that your life is about to change, believe him.

The unemployed late night talk show host, finding himself with some time on his hands, joined Twitter last month — and soon found himself amassing a devoted horde of followers (and possibly creating a few hilarious spinoff accounts). On Friday, he returned the favor a little. “I’ve decided to follow someone at random,” he wrote. “She likes peanut butter and gummy dinosaurs. Sarah Killen, your life is about to change.”

Sure enough, it did. In mere days, the woman known on Twitter as LovelyButton has found her own ranks of followers swollen to 18,587 and counting — up from a previous total of three (including a few that seem suspiciously Coco-flavored).

[..]

At a moment like this, a girl suddenly in the spotlight might be expected to turn into a real douche. Who’d have raised an eyebrow if she flaunted her ignorance on a talk show, plowed into the nearest telephone pole or embarked on an ill-fated hookup with John Mayer? But what Killen — and her new friends — have done instead is rather extraordinary.

Before the fateful O’Brien connection, Killen and her mother had been setting up a sponsor page for the Michigan Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure for breast cancer. Mere hours afterward, Killen posted a link on Twitter to her new donation page. By the next day she’d raised almost a thousand dollars. She’s currently closing in on $3,000.

  1. Twitter as a flash-mob tool…

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