The new fame: Internet celebrity

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- The Internet is setting a new standard for celebrity. Fame is no longer about getting \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"15 minutes\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"$$ it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s about becoming famous to 15 people.

Leslie Hall shows off one of the sparkly tops that earned her notoriety on the Web.

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The Internet allows the masses to wrest control of fame from traditional media, creating micro-celebrities with the click of a mouse, says David Weinberger of the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Weinberger focused on the Internet celebrity in his keynote address at ROFLCon (pronounced roffle-con), a conference on Internet culture held at MIT.

Some say ROFLCon is the biggest gathering of micro-celebrities ever: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"the Internet, in person,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" as one organizer said.

Among the panelists: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"gem sweater\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" fashionista Leslie Hall, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Tron Guy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Jay Maynard, Fark.com founder Drew Curtis, World of Warcraft character Leeroy Jenkins (born Ben Shultz) and Kyle MacDonald, who gained international attention for an online chronicle of his adventures starting with one red paper clip and trading, one item at a time, up to a home in Saskatchewan, Canada.

If you\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ve never heard of these people, don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t worry.

At least a few Internet users have, and that\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s all that matters. It is what makes Internet celebrity so different from the tabloid-fodder fame of folks like Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears.

Traditional celebrity lives and dies based on raw numbers: how many magazines mention them, how many television shows feature them, how many people talk about them around the water cooler.

Internet fame can be more intimate, Weinberger says, more of a personal connection between the one and the few.

Sometimes the content of a Web site becomes much more famous than the people behind it. Internet-circulated videos, photographs, catchphrases or other concepts are called memes, and creating or harnessing a successful one is like trying to catch lightning in a bottle.

A key question at ROFLCon is what makes one meme succeed when thousands of others fail.

Geoffrey Golden of Meteor Games says, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"If we had the answer, we would be gazillionaires. It\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s what marketers, what everyone is trying to figure out.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

The most successful meme today is LOLcats, pictures of cats captioned with a unique blend of text speak, fractured grammar and Internet in-jokes. The main repository can be found at a site called I Can Has Cheezburger, which gets millions of page views every day.

The site is so popular, it now needs a staff of eight to handle traffic and submissions. LOLcats have spawned dozens of copycats, including a LOLcat Bible, LOLpresidents, LOLbots and LOLtheorists.

The word-of-mouth spread of any given meme is another aspect of how Internet fame differs from traditional celebrity. Even the slickest PR effort can fail miserably if Internet users choose to ignore it. The general consensus of the content providers gathered at ROFLCon is that you have to just build it and see whether they will come.

Adam Lindsey, who created a computer language spinoff of LOLcats called LOLcode, said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The idea is everything; you are nothing. If it is successful, all you are is sort of a midwife helping it into the world. If you try to control a meme, you just tend to squash it, so enjoy it without ego and let it take itself wherever it wants to go.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

Mouse clicks determine what becomes famous and what withers away in obscurity. And the most certain way to get a huge bump in traffic is to be featured on Web news aggregators like Slashdot, Fark, Digg or Reddit, influential blogs such as Boing Boing and MetaFilter, or social bookmarking sites like de.licio.us.

These sites are the new \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"critics,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" but their power to create fame lies largely in their communities. Although a traditional critic talks as one to the many, visitors to these sites act, as Weinberger noted, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"the many to the many.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

Before, fame was about scarcity, with only a few people reaching the status of celebrity. But Weinberger points out that the fame of the Internet is about abundance.

As a community, we help bestow it, and as individuals, any of us can achieve it, given the right circumstances. Weinberger said, \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Fame is becoming ours; we are making it ours, as we are doing so much else in our culture. Fame now reflects us.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

另辟蹊径：网络名人

网络为名人建立了一种新的标准，不再是当红“15分钟”，而是在15个人里当红。

哈佛大学Berkman网络与社会中心的David Weinberger说，在互联网上，你可以通过点几下鼠标来得到由传统媒体控制的名望，给自己出点儿小名儿。

在麻省理工的一个关于因特网文化的会议发言中，Weinberger把重点聚焦于ROFLCon（前roffle-con）的网络名人上。

有人说，ROFLCon是史上最大的小名人集合网：“个体组成的网络”，正如一个组织者所宣传的那样。

这些人包括：“珠宝毛衣”的倡导者Leslie Hall；“钢铁男子”Jay Maynard；Fark.com的建立者Drew Curtis；魔兽世界中的Leeroy Jenkins（本名Ben Shultz）和Kyle MacDonald，他引起世界的关注是因为他的在线编年史，从一只红色的纸夹开始，每次记录一条，直到换成了位于加拿大Saskatchewan省的一栋房子。

这些人可能你都没听说过，但别担心。

至少你会知道其中的一部分人，这就是事情的关键所在，这就是网络名人和因为小报成名的Paris Hilton 和Brittney Spears的本质不同。

传统名人的生死决定于关注者的数量：多少杂志报道了他们，多少电视台节目邀请了他们，多少人在公司员工闲谈的时候谈到了他们。

网络成名可能更加私密一些，Weinberger说，它是私人间的，一个人对几个人的关联。

有时候网络上的人会比他在现实生活中火得多。网络视频，照片，标语等其他概念人们把它统称为它点子，造出推出一个明星难若登天。

对于ROFLCon网来说，关键的问题是，当一千个点子失败以后，怎么能让一个点子成功。

Meteor Games公司的Geoffrey Golden说“如果我们能找到它的答案，我们就会变成亿万富翁。这也是市场商业家，和所有人想得到的答案。”

现在，最成功的点子是LOLcats，一些猫的图片外加上一些特别的解说，一点混乱的语法和一堆网络笑话。目前这方面最大的智囊库在一个叫做I Can Has Cheezburger（俺也能要吃猪肉――译者乱译）的网站上，该网站每天的点击量有数百万。

这个网站现在很火，它现在需要的是一些附属结构来处理流量并满足忠实的访问者。于是LOLcats衍生出了一打的Copycat，包括LOLcat Bible, LOLpresidents, LOLbots和 LOLtheorists.

点子的口头宣传是网络成名与传统名人的一项更大的不同。如果网络用户选择漠视，那么再好的公关也会碰一鼻子灰。ROFLCon内容提供者的基本共识是：你必须把它发布出去，看看它会不会火。

Adam Lindsey发明了根据LOLcats命名的计算机语言LOLcode，他说，“创意就是一切；你本身什么都不是。如果它成功了，你就是把它带到这个世界上来的助产婆。如果你试图掌控一个点子，那么你只是在试图毁掉它。所以，无私的去享受它吧，让它自由的沿着自己的方向走下去。”

鼠标的点击决定了什么会在阳光下盛开而什么又会在阴暗中枯萎。像Slashdot, Fark, Digg 或Reddit一样做网络新闻的汇总；像Boing Boing和MetaFilter一样做有影响力的Blog；或是像de.licio.us.一样做社会书签，都可以很实际地获得很大的网络流量。

这些网站是新的“评论者”，但是他们的制造名人的力量很大程度上要依赖于他们的网络社区。正如Weinberger评论所说，传统的评论是一对多的，而访问这些网站的人则是在进行“多对多”的评论。

人们一度认为，出名的都是少数，只有少数人可以成为名人。但是Weinberger指出，网络世界可以养活很多名人。

作为一个社会，我们共同建立了它；作为个人，在一定条件下，我们每个人都可以与它进行交流。Weinberger说：“成名正在成为我们的东西；我们正把它变成我们的东西，正如我们曾经做过的其他事一样。我们都会红。”