Tech scene micro-celebrity made fame itself the goal, detached from accomplishment

Evidence

People with highly visible online personas are dubbed “internet famous” (Ben Brown, founder of the short-lived geek dating site Consummating, christened himself the “internet rockstar” in 2000, and defined it as “all the fun with none of the pesky pressure to produce another top selling CD or make anybody rich or famous. Except you, Mr. Number One.”). Wired magazine put Julia Allison on the cover with the headline “Get Internet famous! Even if you’re nobody.” Like Kevin Rose, many are swamped with attention at conferences: At South by Southwest, I witnessed “mommy blogger” Dooce, a.k.a. Heather Armstrong, backed against a wall by fans. Micro-celebrities are name-dropped on Facebook and Twitter (“At the Rev3 Holiday party with @veronica lamenting that @ryanblock & @kevinrose are nerdily playing chess”). People brag about meeting, hanging out with, and attending parties with the micro-famous; their technologies or accomplishments are followed closely; and their content is read, re-tweeted, and discussed. To many, the distinction between those famous for doing something and those famous for simply being famous is unimportant. What matters is the fame. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 275

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Daniel Boorstin’s ‘celebrity: well-known for well-knownness’ and to the broader influencer-culture canon on fame as its own commodity. — connects to: Micro-celebrity involves fame detached from any discernible achievement or work — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 316; Early Bay Area tech elites openly despised aspirational internet celebrity — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 337; Micro-celebrity status requires achievements, not just self-promotion — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 335 (+4 more)
• CANDY: The 2000 ‘internet rockstar’ quote — ‘all the fun with none of the pesky pressure’ — is a fun elevator anecdote about early internet fame.
• SHARE: The founding of Consummating, a short-lived geek dating site whose founder self-dubbed ‘internet rockstar,’ is worth sending to anyone into early web history.

Broader Connections

• Micro-celebrity status requires achievements, not just self-promotion #contradicts (0.85) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 335
• The pursuit of microfame delivered fame’s costs without its rewards #expands (0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1032
• Micro-celebrity is a learned status practice rooted in Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial values #corroborates (0.75) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 314