In the last month Charlie Sheen has been grabbing headlines and airspace at a dizzying speed, and not necessarily for the best of reasons. Yet, his stock has likely never been higher. Consider that Mr. Sheen logged a Guinness World Record for amassing more than one million followers on Twitter in less than 24 hours. No less than a week after starting to post, @charliesheen already has exceeded two million followers.

It’s no matter whether you agree/sympathize with him or not, he is yet another example of how our society continues to become more and more social. In fact, I doubt he cares one bit whether his followers agree or disagree with his outlook or life style.

What Does This Mean for Legal Vendors?

Communications and marketing as we’ve known them for decades (including the evolution of email) is changing faster than we may want to accept. Mr. Sheen’s motivation/strategy for joining the Twittersphere isn’t important, but you can be certain that his future/former employers are absolutely taking notice of his following. I for one won’t be surprised to see his sitcom return to production.

The message here…if we don’t get onboard, we’ll be left behind. While it may feel comfortable to doubt the validity of social communication, particularly in the legal community, the world has changed and lawyers and the companies that provide products and services to them need to change with it.

If you haven’t yet embraced social communication, you need to join the new world order. But do so with a strategy…you can bet Charlie Sheen has one.