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A long time ago in a far away land called Los Angeles, there was a great king named Conan O’Brien. After several years of his reign, his network turned on him and he went into hiding. Those still loyal to him searched high and low to no avail. Then on February 24th, he came to Twitter and announced, “Today I interviewed a squirrel in my backyard and then threw to commercial. Somebody help me.”

He was back, sort of. Before long, his people came back together. Over half a million followed him wherever he went, reading his tweets and, in some cases, retweeting. Soon after, Conan did something most interesting – he began to follow someone. Just one. The “followee: was a 19-year-old college student in Michigan who had only started tweeting two days before Conan under the handle @LovelyButton. O’Brien would then tweet “Sarah Killen, your life is about to change.” And so it did.  Very quickly.

The tweet that launched a new celebrity

Killen hadn’t taken the comment seriously but soon enough, word blazed across the social media lands and she had a following of over 15,000 people. Quite a large number since she was new to Twitter and only had about three followers beforehand. Not only was her name gaining notoriety, she was also amassing a small fortune. When her webcam threatened to prevent her from doing a video interview with MTV, some kind soul who sells horns in Florida bought  her a new Apple computer. And with her wedding set for later this year, she is being offered a tailor made wedding dress by a designer in New York.

We still aren’t sure why Killen was the chosen one. She says that Conan’s people contacted her through MySpace quite randomly and she said sure, not taking it too seriously. But with all the attention and very real treasures, she’s probably had a change of heart. Thousands are reaching out to a girl who, just a couple days ago, was practically unknown.

No one knows what O’Brien is plotting. Him coming onto Twitter was strange enough, but following only one person makes us all scratch our heads. I guess we’ll have to keep following Conan and Sarah to see where all this ends up.

After a long history of hardships, Haitians are now enduring a long and disastrous aftermath from last month’s most severe natural disaster in current history. The death toll is estimated at over a quarter million, the damages exceeding those of the Asian tsunami in 2004, and the costs are billions more than that of Katrina. Being one of the poorest Third World countries, Haiti is no stranger to suffering, with poverty, disease, debt, and a long list of political problems with dictatorship having existed for decades.

With their previous beloved leader, Aristide, sent into exile and the current president, René Préval, walking around in a daze, the Haitian people are short-handed on powerful leaders, and are relying on short form aid instead. Relief efforts for the massive destruction and displacement of Haitians are endless, and the partnering of big brand relief organizations with social media sites could make the overwhelming process more efficient. But for real-time news about the relief progress and inside perspectives from locals in Haiti, social media networks are revolutionizing the way we stay informed. By following local publishers, donors are empowered to make more informative decisions on how to help.

Although the Red Cross has the most branding power and continues to receive millions more in donations than any other agency, there are many more organizations with progressive, innovative approaches that hold a certain expertise. Questioning the legitimacy of an organization with an unknown name is only logical; there are predators who are using this ravaged country as an excuse to wring cash out of well intentioned donors. The less informed the donor, the more likely their funds will go to familiar agencies like Red Cross and UNICEF. There have been debates of pooling U.S. disaster funds to spread the help to other organizations that are more specialized, yet it doesn’t seem like a timely solution to what needs immediate attention.

There are easy ways to donate and some sponsors are doing it for you. If you become a follower of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund by March 2^nd, Rudy’s BBQ will automatically donate fifty cents to CBHF. (You can participate via the CBHF Twitter account). You can also sport your support with a Fashion for Haiti t-shirt (@fashionforhaiti on Twitter). New York community group To Haiti With Love, is asking artists to create and donate. Art will then be auctioned off via their website, tohaitiwithlove.co.uk. Also, if you are an eBay shopper, you can automatically donate during your checkout.

To read what people on the ground in Haiti are saying and to learn about other ways you can help and become a part of the plan, check out the publishers and citizen journalists below on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/MakHaitian

http://twitter.com/mediahacker

http://twitter.com/firesideint

http://twitter.com/RAMhaiti

While searching the web you come across strange stories, many of which offer some small amount of humor or a fleeting idea. I was surprised when one such story began to snowball down a media mountain, “John Mellencamp for Senate.” This simple and almost far fetched proposal quickly gained steam, receiving mentions in People.com, CNN, and MSNBC.

The idea came about after Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana announced that he would not seek a third term in the 2010 election and talk began surfacing on a Talking Points Memo comment board that the rocker would make a good replacement. John Mellencamp, a native son of Indiana, hasn’t denied nor supported the claim, but it wouldn’t be the first time he had a taste for politics. Mellencamp announced that he supported Barack Obama and asked the McCain camp to stop using his song “Our Country” during the last presidential election.

Supporters of Mellencamp for Senate have united on a Facebook page led by John Patterson. Below is my interview with Patterson himself, the man behind the online movement.

SR: How would you describe yourself?

JP: Living in Kansas, very much into politics, former Teamster and Railroad Workers union member,  father and grandfather,  former Congressional campaign adviser, blogger and a geek since the Commodore 64.  Former Deaniac, I am one of those who has been very pleased with our current president.

How did you hear about John Mellencamp and the possibility of him running for Senate?

A comment from regular blogger “Erica” at Talking Points Memo in the hour after Bayh announced his departure to that effect inspired me to build the Facebook page. Read the rest of this entry »