Conan O'Brien's Twitter account has garnered 600,000 followers since its February 24 debut, meaning he's the most beloved canceled TV star since at least Tony Danza. Any Twitterer who bequeaths us the line, "Hey gang! Look for me at the Oscars tonight. I'll be in the parking lot, wearing my prom tux and listening on the radio" is a worthy Internet institution. But on March 5, Coco added to his legacy by randomly choosing one Twitterer to follow -- a Michigan native named Sarah Killen. Since then, two things have happened to Ms. Killen. 1) She's picked up 18,000 followers. 2) She's picked up everything she ever wanted.
Conan has only tweeted twice about Killen, who had three followers before he decided to follow her.
"I've decided to follow someone at random. She likes peanut butter and gummy dinosaurs. Sarah Killen, your life is about to change."
"Sarah likes Twizzlers and craves cantaloupe. I like Raisinets, but melon feels creepy in my mouth. Twitter pals 4 eva! :)"
But according to Killen's interview with PopEater, she's earned plenty more than retweets from newfound followers.
So did you have any idea that Conan O'Brien was going to start following you on Twitter?
I was sent a message on Thursday [March 4] asking if it was okay. I replied back on Friday and five minutes later, he was following me. I had a tiny heads up.
How has this affected your life?
It has really helped out. I haven't had anything negative happen so far. I'm getting married on September 25, and we didn't know if we would be able to afford it. Now I'm getting custom made shoes and a dress from Kelima in New York. They offered a gown in exchange for promoting their favorite charity, the Children's Hunger Fund. We're getting a limo, Classic Creations is giving us wedding bands and there's a vineyard in California sending us wine. We've got it all covered now...
Have you been getting any other swag?
We have an iMac computer now. A guy from Hornblasters, a Florida-based online retailer, contacted us and gave us the brand new iMac... I've also been getting lots of donations for the 3-Day Walk for the Cure, which helps raise money for breast cancer research... I was going to do the walk and didn't know how I would raise all this money. I got $2,600 in a couple days.
She's lucky it was Conan who followed her. If Courtney Love starts following you, I hear you're obligated to donate what you can.
Meet Sarah Killen, the one person Conan O'Brien is following on Twitter [PopEater]