Charlie Sheen, Unemployed Winner at Twitter

Watching Charlie Sheen join Twitter today — at the rate of 500 followers added per second, by one estimate — has been a fascinating demonstration of personal branding in the age of social media.

His first tweet included two made-up hashtags (#winning and #chooseyourvice), a twitpic showing two beverage brands to make a visual pun.

Girlfriend/porn star Bree Olson holds a Naked Juice while Sheen holds a childlike innocent drink (chocolate milk) from a family-run California dairy that's so teeny it doesn't appear to have a website: Broguiere's Farm Fresh Dairy, whose beverages are beloved by gourmands and earned Sheen praise from those in the know.

His first bio description, "Unemployed Winner," riffs on his "Winning" mantra about his self-described rockstar lifestyle and choices. The first batch of people that he's following includes Howard Stern and CNN's Piers Morgan, both of whom interviewed him this week; live-in "goddess" Olson; and actress Alyssa Milano.

As he prepares to respond on Twitter tonight to a 20/20 special on ABC, round one goes to ... @charliesheen.