Internet celebrity

An Internet celebrity, cyberstar or online celebrity is someone who has become famous by means of the Internet. Such fame is based less upon raw numbers, as with traditional media. Instead, the wide reach of the Internet allows people to reach a narrow audience across the world and so become famous within a particular Internet community.

Rising to fame

Many millions of people write online journals or weblogs. In many cases, they write anonymously or their focus is upon a specialist topic. But if the author has or develops a distinctive personality, their fame will derive from this as much as from the content of their blog.

In some cases, people might rise to fame through a single event or video that goes viral. The Internet allows videos, news articles, and jokes to spread very quickly. Depending on the reach of the spread, the content may become considered an "Internet meme," and thus, any of the people associated may gain exposure. For example, Zach Anner, an Austin, Texas-based comedian gained world-wide attention after submitting a video to Oprah's "Search for the Next TV Star" competition

Internet celebrity has also become a popular phenomenon in the China (PRC) with the likes of Sister Hibiscus, Shi Hengxia (Fu Rong Jiejie), who received worldwide notoriety and fame for her unashamed efforts at self-promotion via internet postings.

Examples

• Perez Hilton, an American blogger, whose blog, Perezhilton.com, is known for posts covering gossip items about musicians, actors and celebrities. His blog garnered negative attention for its attitude, its active "outing" of alleged closeted celebrities and its role in the increasing coverage of celebrities in all forms of media.
• Chris Crocker, an American Internet celebrity, occasional blogger, and occasional recording artist. Crocker gained international fame in September 2007 from his viral video "Leave Britney Alone", in which he tearfully defends pop singer Britney Spears's comeback performance at the MTV Video Music Awards; his video had over four million views in two days. The video received international media attention, hundreds of parodies and criticism for Crocker.
• Lisa Donovan, an American actress and writer who rose to fame after self-producing comedic short films, published under the username LisaNova on YouTube. As she gained an audience on YouTube, she was given a featured player role in MADtv in February 2007. After appearing in four episodes, she moved to Los Angeles and founded Zappin Productions, a production company specializing in viral videos.
• Lucas Cruikshank, an American teenager, famous for his YouTube comedy videos. He has been releasing videos since 2007, using the fake name Fred Figglehorn. He has since successfully released multiple music albums, guest starred on multiple television programs and is common among internet pop culture.
• Jon Lajoie, a Canadian comedian, actor, rapper, singer and musician who became an Internet celebrity thanks to his many humorous music videos.
• Germano Mosconi, an Italian sport journalist who became famous after the publication of a video on YouTube.
• Allison Harvard, Model

See also

• List of Internet phenomena
• List of YouTube personalities
• Usenet celebrity

Further reading

• "Internet Fame Is Cruel Mistress for a Dancer of the Numa Numa" at The New York Times
• "The Flip Side of Internet Fame" at Newsweek
• "Rise of an Internet Star - Parlaying YouTube Fame Into Big Business" at ReadWriteWeb
• "Internet Famous: Julia Allison and the Secrets of Self-Promotion" at Wired
• "The new fame: Internet celebrity" at CNN
• "The Microfame Game" at "New York"