Micro Celebrity and Internet Pioneers
February 26th, 2008 Richard Posted in micro celebrity, vlog, web and new media |
I’d never heard the term “micro celebrity” until Andrew Baron, of Rocketboom, posted a note to the video blog list about a new video blog/podcast/whatever called pop17, hosted by Sarah Meyers. (I later found this article in Wired from November 2007 on the topic.)
Since Andrew recommended it, and I love Rocketboom, of course I watched an episode and then subscribed, and enjoyed the episode.
A big part of the first episode was Sarah interviewing people on the street regarding internet celebrities and phenomena, and, not surprisingly most people hadn’t heard of anything. (In fact, I was disappointed that I didn’t know many of the topics/people either, and I like to think I’m some sort of a connoisseur of web culture).
This relates very much to a comment one of my student’s made on another post. The interesting thing here is that we forget, or, at least I forget, that to be immersed in the web is still a brand new thing, and it’s something that relatively few of us share. I’m not talking about using the web, I’m talking about being immersed in the web. (Like someone who would actually be reading this blog post by Richard who wasn’t required to do so for class).
February 27th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Richard, you are a mega celebrity to me.
February 27th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
w00t – I got my own hyperlink! Just what I always wanted!
I guess its probably a damning indictment of my social life that I actually knew all but one of the people she was talking about and the one I didn’t know I actually just didn’t recognize the name – Miss South Carolina would’ve clicked with me. I actually ‘unboomed’ with Amanda (THAT was a soap opera!) – I only watched one post-Amanda Rocketboom and that was enough for me. People keep telling me its still good but I refuse to believe them.
The Wired article was actually very interesting and kind of circled back to the survey we looked at earlier in the semester. In the long run will having your comings and goings logged for all to see mean that people are more guarded about their speech and activities or does it mean that people will cease to care about social morays and stigmas..? Hopefully somewhere in between – but, personally, I’d rather see a more decadent society than a society of people afraid to express themselves. I’m sure plenty would disagree with me!
On a personal level, I’m definitely more interested in “microcelebrities” than ACTUAL celebrities and the above article/video makes me feel a little sheepish because I’ve never equated my interest in the same light as the people who dote on what Angelina Jolie is wearing at an event or who is having whose celebrity baby. Lol… But in thinking about it I’m far more happy to have met Leo Laporte and Patrick Norton from TechTV/TWiT/Revision3 than some of the more real-world-significant celebrities I’ve gotten to meet. And before going to see the live taping of Diggnation last week Alex Albrecht would definitely have been at or near the top of my list of people I’d like to meet and chat with – The Totally Rad Show is hands down my favorite video podcast each week. (If any of you are Star Wars geeks I highly recommend the intro to this week’s episode ‘JunkPunk’. )
I’ve literally been like a 13 year old girl this week, running around showing the pictures I got with Kevin and Alex to anyone who would sit still long enough to be utterly unimpressed by them! If you’re still reading this you’ve been sitting still long enough for me to not impress you:
Lol… See? I’m ridiculous! But “microcelebrity” definitely refers to the size of the fanbase and not to the level of enthusiasm… in fact the level of enthusiasm might be MORE for the micros than the actuals because they are targeted at a niche audience with a specific interest. Plus, microcelebrities make me long winded and ramble-y… apparently… Ok. I’m done.
February 27th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Wordpress no likey the HTML (or the smiley faces today… hurm):
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h78/ccferr1/IMG_0256.jpg
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h78/ccferr1/IMG_0254.jpg
February 27th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
One thing, Christian, is that I loved Amanda on Rocketboom and have enjoyed her on stuff since. Amanda and her boyfriend, Mario, are good buddies of ours
However, I still enjoy Rocketboom, and I think Joanne Colan does a great job. I think at first the show struggled after Amanda left, trying to imitate what they’d done with Amanda, but then started doing different stuff that fit better with Joanne, and they’ve done a lot of creative stuff since. For example, I thought this relatively recent one was very creative and entertaining.
One last cool thing, is that it appears that Amanda’s getting ready to start another daily show.
February 27th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
You win this geek fight, sir - well played.
THAT is about the coolest thing I can imagine - the envy boils over.
Can I ask how you aggregate what you watch..? Are you using an RSS reader of some kind, doing it old fashioned bookmark style..? And have you given up on iTunes for your productions? I’ve been playing with Miro a little since the class with Ryanne and Jay… jury’s still out for me, tho. Mobility is big for me.
Speaking of which - another question: is Jay’s actual name “Jay Dedman”..? I refuse to believe it even if it is.
I hadn’t heard about Amanda’s daily gig either, so thanks for that update - sorry for the third degree.
February 28th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
… I have always used RSS for video and audio. I used to use fireant, and now I use iTunes. I just recently started using bloglines for blog feeds. Reading text blogs is relatively new for me.
… I collect video and audio onto an iPod and do most watching by hooking the iPod to the TV so that both my wife and I can watch.
Not sure what that means, but the RichardShow is listed on iTunes under podcasts, if you search for RichardShow or Richard Show.
I’ve never tried Miro, since, right now, I’m doing the iTunes/iPod thing, though I don’t like that the formats are so limited. I’ve heard good stuff about Miro.
That’s his name, as far as I know.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
When I subscribed to your feed via iTunes, not all of the latest stuff was showing up - but it’s since fixed itself. That’s what I use, also - it’s just most convenient, I throw it all on my iPhone and watch/listen on the go. What I don’t like about it is that its not easy to find cool new stuff - the recommendations are usually dead ends and I can’t follow trails to cool weird stuff very easily. Miro has actually already been much better for that for me so maybe I’ll just use it for discovery.
I thought Jay was using a handle during class when he was jaydedman (I read ‘Jaded Man’) which I thought was clever but as I was poking around I realized maybe I was just reading too much into it. When I write my great american novel I’m definitely stealing his name for a main character.
February 28th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I got to reading the comments and completely forgot what the post was about. Crackin me up!
February 29th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Me too Shannon!! Keep posting you guys……..its getting really interesting!
February 29th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Oh o’. That anonymous happens to be me! Sorry about that.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 am
I don’t have much to comment on regarding the microcelebrity and internet pioneers. The sock video was entertaining.
March 4th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Thanks for the nice words Richard! See you at SXSW?