In class on Wednesday we discussed the creation of the “internet celebrity.” This is essentially someone who became famous largely, or entirely, because of their behavior online. Like the fat guy dancing to the “Numa Numa” video which helped launch him (and Youtube) into superstardom. Then there is Tom, the guy who made MySpace. He triggered MySpace so that everyone had him as a friend. His profile was visited more than any major celebrity’s. That’s one class of internet celebrity, the rocket-ship fame; they do one thing that shoots them into fame.
Then there are these celebrities who have some fame to begin with, but the viral nature of the internet gives them a platform on which to spread their name. Paris Hilton, who was kind of famous for her family name, became an internet superstar with a video that has been downloaded online more times then some full length feature films. Meghan McCain, daughter of US Senator and twice failed presidential candidate John McCain, finds herself in a similar category. She has some fame to begin with, but uses the internet to create her own brand. She is someone who is savvy enough to use the internet to groom their celebrity. She has 70,000 Twitter followers, and each got a shock this week she described Twitter with: "What once was fun now just seems like a vessel for harassment." She was criticized this week for a twitpic photo that was a little too revealing for some of her followers.
Like all internet celebrities though, any publicity is good publicity. Her photo had CNN and other news sources buzzing about her “deleting her account” and “unsure of what McCain would do next.” Wow. What a world we live in now where CNN, a world famous news organization, does a story on why someone might delete their Twitter. Of course the news played right into what these internet celebrities want (or need): more followers on Twitter, more page visits, or more friends on Facebook. There is a direct correlation between someone’s “stats” in the above categories and where they fall in the internet celebrity/social media world. The higher those numbers, the more reputable you are.
Some people then try to make themselves internet celebrities. They may try and bolster their online credentials to appear to be more popular then they really are.
A “friending or following addict” is not the person to blame them for doing this however. The social media culture puts a tremendous amount of online credibility based on how popular you are.
Soon internet celebrities will be a dime a dozen. Try something original to become famous, don’t just friend a whole bunch of people. Get stuck in a hot air balloon or something really weird.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Facebook Friends
Today I noticed that the number of “friends” I had on Facebook was about to pass 1500. 1500! I took a second glance at that and could not believe that the number had gotten so high. Did I really know 1500 people well enough to add/confirm them as a friend on Facebook? Clearly the answer to this question is no. When I scrolled through some friend lists, I began to notice some themes behind which I had become friends with these people. The friends I had on Facebook could be divided into four categories.
True Friends: (33% of friends) This is the obvious category. People I actually am friends with. Family members are included in this category. Home friends, college friends, family members, that’s it.
Friendship requests originated from: mutual
Kind of Friends: (40% of friends)People I maybe had a class with in high school, friends of my brother or sister, or a weirdo who I might want to defriend but I would be too worried about them being insulted. Also a number of people I go to college with that I friended the summer before freshman year. (Everyone seemed to be doing that).
Friendship requests originated from: mutual
Status Friends: (20% of friends) In your professional field, there are always those interesting people you may friend just to be part of their network. So with me being a politics major, I am friends with many politicians, pundits, high-profile people, and people I have added just to network with.
Friendship requests originated from: me
Not Friends: (7% of friends) This is the category of people that I confirmed just because they were too weird to pass up. This person was maybe a person with forty friends, part of an African country’s network, and a profile picture of him and an elephant. These people looked too interesting to reject.
Friendship requests originated from: them
Voyeurism is less of a concern for me since I am now older and also a male. However, with all these friends that I have collected, I feel like my invisible audience has expanded far beyond what is should be. If you consider that 2/3s of my Facebook friends I don’t know well enough to trust, I should begin to correct some of these friendships. How often are these 1500 people looking at my profile? Are these random people looking at my photos or updates? Are they me using my picture for something?
Maybe some defriending is in order.
True Friends: (33% of friends) This is the obvious category. People I actually am friends with. Family members are included in this category. Home friends, college friends, family members, that’s it.
Friendship requests originated from: mutual
Kind of Friends: (40% of friends)People I maybe had a class with in high school, friends of my brother or sister, or a weirdo who I might want to defriend but I would be too worried about them being insulted. Also a number of people I go to college with that I friended the summer before freshman year. (Everyone seemed to be doing that).
Friendship requests originated from: mutual
Status Friends: (20% of friends) In your professional field, there are always those interesting people you may friend just to be part of their network. So with me being a politics major, I am friends with many politicians, pundits, high-profile people, and people I have added just to network with.
Friendship requests originated from: me
Not Friends: (7% of friends) This is the category of people that I confirmed just because they were too weird to pass up. This person was maybe a person with forty friends, part of an African country’s network, and a profile picture of him and an elephant. These people looked too interesting to reject.
Friendship requests originated from: them
Voyeurism is less of a concern for me since I am now older and also a male. However, with all these friends that I have collected, I feel like my invisible audience has expanded far beyond what is should be. If you consider that 2/3s of my Facebook friends I don’t know well enough to trust, I should begin to correct some of these friendships. How often are these 1500 people looking at my profile? Are these random people looking at my photos or updates? Are they me using my picture for something?
Maybe some defriending is in order.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
YouTube Video On How Annoying Twitter Can Be
Very good points that made me laugh. There is a market out there for constant updates and if people didn't want it, Twitter would not be a 50 million person enterprise right now.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Be Careful What You Tweet; You Don’t Know Who Is Watching
Today at work I had an embarrassing moment. I intern for Congressman John Boehner and I attended his press conference today on current events. During his remarks he made a very funny comment about the current healthcare plan that the democrats are proposing. The plan is likely (or really unlikely) to include a government option for health insurance, called a public option. Boehner was asked today for his thoughts on the public option and he remarked that he thought the public option was “about as unpopular as a garlic milk shake.”
I thought this was a very funny quote, and in the twitter world the first one to tweet gets the street cred. So I tweeted it out, along with a picture I took of him at the microphone. The picture got about sixty views. When I returned to my office from the press conference I was given an assignment to run something upstairs to one of Mr. Boehner’s leadership offices. (Boehner is the republican leader in the house). When I walked into the office upstairs I find the man I was looking for and he says to me “so you were talking some pictures at the press conference?”
I was so nervous that I was violating some kind of rule and that he saw me taking the pictures, but actually he had my twitter page up on his screen and a picture of me was staring back at me. For a second I worried about my previous tweets. Did I say anything embarrassing? Something I wasn’t supposed to repeat? Something that may make my boss look bad? I was nervous where he was going with this. He finally said that he was following me and that he and I should talk more about media and how I can help the Congressman. I breathed a sigh of relief and talked about new media with him for a few more minutes.
It just goes to show you that invisible audiences most definitely exist. People have the ability to search you or the search the topic you are writing about, and even with levels of protection people who are your “friends” or “followers” can still copy/paste what you say, or have five people staring at the screen behind them.
If I said something off-color, I very well may have cost myself my job today. Instead I might have opened a new opportunity.
I thought this was a very funny quote, and in the twitter world the first one to tweet gets the street cred. So I tweeted it out, along with a picture I took of him at the microphone. The picture got about sixty views. When I returned to my office from the press conference I was given an assignment to run something upstairs to one of Mr. Boehner’s leadership offices. (Boehner is the republican leader in the house). When I walked into the office upstairs I find the man I was looking for and he says to me “so you were talking some pictures at the press conference?”
I was so nervous that I was violating some kind of rule and that he saw me taking the pictures, but actually he had my twitter page up on his screen and a picture of me was staring back at me. For a second I worried about my previous tweets. Did I say anything embarrassing? Something I wasn’t supposed to repeat? Something that may make my boss look bad? I was nervous where he was going with this. He finally said that he was following me and that he and I should talk more about media and how I can help the Congressman. I breathed a sigh of relief and talked about new media with him for a few more minutes.
It just goes to show you that invisible audiences most definitely exist. People have the ability to search you or the search the topic you are writing about, and even with levels of protection people who are your “friends” or “followers” can still copy/paste what you say, or have five people staring at the screen behind them.
If I said something off-color, I very well may have cost myself my job today. Instead I might have opened a new opportunity.
Facebook First Impressions
It’s so true, if someone is not on Facebook, in my mind they don’t exist. People who don’t have a Facebook are instantly branded a total weirdo by society. We have all had that conversation, or overheard that conversation, where someone says something about how they met someone and that person didn’t have a Facebook and now therefore they think that person is weird. The most classic example is the conversation everyone had with their home friends before coming to school.
My summer before college:
Me: “I looked my roommate up on Facebook. Don’t think he has one.”
Friend: “This guy must have something wrong with him.”
Friend 2: “Probably one of those study types.”
Me: “Great, I’m stuck with a loser.”
My summer before college:
Me: “I looked my roommate up on Facebook. Don’t think he has one.”
Friend: “This guy must have something wrong with him.”
Friend 2: “Probably one of those study types.”
Me: “Great, I’m stuck with a loser.”
Best Web Ad of This Election Season
New Media has had a profound effect on politics. This ad was launched on YouTube (for free) and the "mainstream" media picked it up because of the attention online that it got. That's free, earned media. A perfect campaign move.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Facebook vs. Twitter
Today I used Twitter to check hundreds of updates, follow a new person or two, get all my news (both social and actual), make dinner plans, and tell others what I was up to.
I logged on to Facebook for one second to wish a friend happy birthday.
Is twitter on the rise?
I logged on to Facebook for one second to wish a friend happy birthday.
Is twitter on the rise?
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