Conan Twitter Tracker: How Conan Met Sarah

Ok, Conan, you're not such a bad guy, after all. We admit that for a while Friday we thought @LovelyButton was a figment of your Twitter imagination (read: Freckles and the gang), but now that we've actually spoken to her and have seen firsthand what a sweetie she is, we approve of your first and only Twitter pal.

This afternoon, we spoke with Sarah Faith Killen and her fiance, John D. Slowik, Jr., via Skype from their bedroom in Fowlerville, Mich., and we intended to share that video until we saw what an amateur job we did with that recording. So, we'll tell you the story because that's what we do best here at Show Tracker: tell stories.

Sarah, 19, and John, 21, will celebrate their third anniversary on March 13 and are getting married on Sept. 25. Before Friday, they had no idea how they were going to pull that off. He was recently laid off and she is a student. They live with his father now, but plan to soon get a place of their own and enroll in the University of Michigan.

Since @conanobrien announced she was his "random" Twitter pal designee, Sarah has been showered with presents and attention, going from three followers to 12,713 in 24 hours. Strangers have practically planned her entire wedding for her, and someone sent her a new Apple computer. That was Matt from the Florida-based company, Hornblasters, by the way, who came to the rescue with an I-Mac when Sarah's Webcam malfunctioned and it looked like she was going to have to cancel an MTV News interview via Skype Friday night.

When Show Tracker first contacted the very cute Sarah, she wanted nothing to do with us. She had interpreted our post about her as "negative" and she sent a polite but firm "No, thank you" to us. Then, when she realized that Show Tracker has been Twitter Tracking Conan, his freckles, Sharpie, Taurus, Monkey, Squirrel, and Beard, she saw for herself that Show Tracker is basically insane but harmless and she felt more at ease. As she told us, "People will try to take you down and I'm trying to avoid that."

She's a sharp cookie, that one.  Maybe that's why Conan picked her and not us.

Anyway, here's a transcript of our chat:

So how was it that Conan picked you?

It was completely random. I just got a little heads-up asking if he could follow me. And then he did. And it all happened at once.

Did he contact you directly?

It was someone else for him.

Was that Friday?

Yes.

What did you think when you got that message?

I didn't take it seriously. I just kind of said, "OK" and I thought they had sent it to a lot of people. And then a few minutes later, I had hundreds of followers.

Have you been following him on Twitter?

I got my Twitter two days before he got his. And I started following him, I think the day before yesterday. Or maybe the day before that. So not very long.

Did they say anything about why they picked you?

As far as I know, it was completely random.

So what do you think about all of this?

I'm really excited. It's really fun. Even if it ends right now, it was really, really fun. It was really cool of him.

Are you a fan of his?

I am and I think it's completely genius of him to do this little experiment. He's probably laughing at all these people freaking out right now.

Were you aware that his Freckles, Sharpie, Monkey, his car, his beard, and his Squirrel are all tweeting too? Do you follow them?

No.

Do you know there's a Squirrel with your name on it now?

Yes, KillensSquirrel. I've been following that.

Did you create that?

No.

Do you know who created that?

No idea.

I have a feeling it was Conan. The bio is very similar to Conan's Squirrel bio. As you can tell, I've been studying.

I wouldn't be surprised.

I'm really glad that you decided to talk with me because it made me sad to read that you had taken what I wrote the wrong way and thought it was negative. This has all been just for fun, you know?

I'm trying to be careful and stay positive through it because people will take you down very very quickly so I've been trying to avoid that.

What does your family say about all this?

I told my dad this morning. He acted like I was crazy. My mom has known since yesterday. And she's being cool. She got her own Twitter @SarahKMom.

So, John, what do you think?

I'm excited for her and I'm really happy and I've gotten a few followers from her. So it's all good for me.

So what have you gotten for your wedding?

We have invites, a photographer, a videographer, wedding bands and right now someone just offered me a custom-made wedding dress. A couple of days ago, I wasn't sure if I'd been able to get a wedding gown and now I'm getting a custom-made one. They're in New York.

What did she say? Why does she want to give you a dress?

They've been following it and they think it's been pretty cool. She was very cool. She wanted me to promote a charity for her so I told her, definitely.

So when Conan wrote on Twitter that your life was going to change, he was not kidding.

I thought that was being kind of dramatic but now everybody's trying to contact me.

If people want you to host charity events, maybe you'll be Conan's sidekick on his new show or something.

I would love to be his sidekick.

Are you going to follow his other accounts?

I'm going to try. I just got through 4,000 e-mails. 

Were they all legitimate?

There's a lot of weird people. People keep telling me to dump him (points at John) and marry them.

I agree with you that all of this is genius and that he's definitely up to something.

Yes, I think he has a whole plan.

So if he said he would make your dream happen, what would you say?

I don't know. That would be crazy. If this all stopped right now, I'd be more than happy with what's happened. It's helped us out so much.

-- Maria Elena Fernandez (follow me on Twitter @writerchica)

Photo: Sarah Faith Killen and John D. Slowik Jr. in their bedroom in Michigan. Credit: Sarah Faith Killen.

Related

Complete Conan Twitter Tracker Coverage

Comments

[@ConansFreckles]

Ah... "When Red-Hairy Met Sarah". I can see it now: Ewan McGregor (in a wig) as Conan, Renee Zellweger as Sarah, that guy from Supernatural (either one'll do) as John, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog as the Squirrel... possibilities are endless! Meanwhile, Maria (oh, we're still working on casting ideas for you... perhaps Julianna Margulies? Julia Louis-Dreyfus? No worries, our people'll call your people) -- meanwhile my dear, I'm indotted to you. -Did I say indotted? I meant indebted. *thinks* OK, both! Love and freckles,
@ConansFreckles

PS Re Sarah -- We'll have what she's having.

[Grant]

Reading her personal bio "I love to smile and have fun in life. I think that anyone and anything can be forgiven and we should all just love and be." Reminded me of Conan's signoff message about how he hates cynicism and finds it to be his least favorite quality in a person and I wouldn't be surprised if that played into why she was picked.

Really glad it was someone real like her and not some snarky hipster type.

[computer consultant]

It's pretty incredible how twitter has this ability to connect so many, so fast. Yet I'm still completely clueless as to how I'm supposed to use it to my own benefit.

[Dollar Van Demos]

Like his Twitter bio states, Conan should just do a Twitter show. It's much more entertaining!

[Kelsey]

This is all very cool. It's awesome the Sarah got all that free stuff for her wedding. I'm sure it will be beautiful.

[Bob]

haha, have you seen that?? my new favorite website! http://conanliquorbeach.com

[Conando]

@ConandoOBrien

[donovan]

wow, i totally have no clue why this article is here? i must need to get with the times and create a social account of some sort.

[Bobby Beau]

She needs to stop asking for money. Latest tweet: "would seriously take a job shoveling horse poo right now, anything to help get us out of here and on our own." STOP IT!

[Milton Keynes Web Design]

Twitter seems to be the new Facebook if you ask me. Everyone is using it now. The secret is all about implimenting its power.

[starcraft 2 strategy guide]

very cool story. did the wedding happen yet?

[starcraft 2 protoss strategy]

It's kind of a miracle if you take into account that they picked you randomly. So, how did the story went on?

[Starcraft 2 Strategy Guide]

Very cool story, I'm so happy for Sarah. I wish I could attend the wedding :)

[starcraft 2 strategy]

Did this wedding already happen or its yet to happen?

[Starcraft 2 strategy guide]

Wow.. such a cure story. anyway, thanks to the new technology. thanks to twitter. love really strikes anytime in whatever ways.. congrats and God bless...

[sizzler coupons]

I'm completely amazed that you found this person on twitter. I actually like Twitter but in order to get a bunch of followers, I had to follow a lot of people and it's impossible to learn who is following you and who you are following.

[comfortable sofa beds]

his is all very cool. It's awesome the Sarah got all that free stuff for her wedding. I'm sure it will be beautiful.

[ffxiv guide]

This is unbelievable.. thanks for sharing.. I have always been wondering how can I best use twitter for myself. I guess, I'm never going to be able to figure this out.

[Sam @ Starcraft Strategies]

Inspiring story! There seems to be a rise in Twitter relationships, could this be a new online dating platform?

[registry cleaners]

It is a lovely and sweet story, hope they have a happiness life.