Press coverage can create perceived Web popularity after the fact

Evidence

Beyond audience numbers, other factors contribute to the perceived fame of a camgirl. In her heyday, Ana Voog received only 10,000 unique visitors a day, but becausee of the amount of press coverage she has received over the years she is widely regarded among those I’ve interviewed as the Web’s second most popular camgirl. I likewise gained press notoriety while webcamming full time, not because I had a million hits a day, but because as a girl-dissertating-on-webcams-with-her-own-webcam, I made for a good story. This media attention generated Web hits for me, thus creating my popularity after the fact. — Theresa M. Senft, Camgirls, 190

Categorization

• CANDY: The dissertation-on-webcam framing that made the author newsworthy is a funny self-aware detail about how niche scholarship gets covered.
• XREF: connects to: West Coast technologists, not mainstream media, first embraced Web 2.0 — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 151; Social media broadcasting transforms status by prioritizing attention and visibility — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 30; Dynamic, time-series tests confirm that media attention shapes public concern — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1445 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Dynamic, time-series tests confirm that media attention shapes public concern #corroborates (0.85) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1445
• News coverage devoted to a problem increases public belief in its importance #corroborates (0.80) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1472
• Social media broadcasting transforms status by prioritizing attention and visibility #expands (0.75) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 30