Ascribed micro-celebrity is granted through media attention and audience distance

Evidence

Micro-celebrity can be ascribed to people well-known in certain subcultures, often through the production of celebrity media about them. For example, a tech blog published paparazzi photos of the late Steve Jobs and Google CEO Eric Schmidt drinking coffee in Palo Alto; similar candid shots from Mark Zuckerberg’s honeymoon ended up in Us Weekly. A paparazzi photo of someone marks them as a celebrity, or at least someone to pay attention to. While micro-celebrity is ascribed to people who are recognizable from online memes, such as the costumed super-fan “Tron Guy” or internet karaoke star “Numa Numa kid,” high-status micro-celebrities in the tech scene are those with significant business or technological accomplishments, such as Gary Vaynerchuk and Kevin Rose. An ascribed micro-celebrity is not just someone popular, but someone treated with the celebrity-fan relationship of distance and aggrandizement. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 276

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the ascribed pole of the micro-celebrity continuum: fame granted by others through media production, not self-marketing.
• XREF: The ascribed/achieved distinction echoes Weber’s ascribed vs. achieved status, and connects to the reader’s influencer-culture canon on how fame is conferred versus manufactured. — connects to: Micro-celebrity status requires achievements, not just self-promotion — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 335; Micro-celebrity status can be imposed by media regardless of self-presentation — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 345; Micro-celebrity extends para-social interaction from one-way media to direct networked response — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 281 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Micro-celebrity extends para-social interaction from one-way media to direct networked response #expands (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 281
• Ongoing direct fan interaction is what sustains a micro-celebrity’s relatability and viewership #contradicts (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 280
• Micro-celebrity transforms personalities without offering the protective infrastructure of mainstream fame #complicates (0.75) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 408