Everybody’s a Celebrity
Not too long ago the idea of celebrity was completely different than it is now. In order to be a celebrity, the masses had to know you and you had to be on TV, in the paper, and on one of the news channels or Entertainment Tonight (is ET still around?). Before we had the internet our only source of information came from printed media and television. Printed media had limited room per page and TV had limited channels which meant most people remained in obscurity while a small chosen few attained an audience of the hundreds of thousands. Then something very interesting happened when we all started going on the web. We were made aware that the world wasn’t just one big place where only a few people could be famous. We still have our celebrities in the traditional sense for sure. A movie star is still a movie star and Kanye’s latest antic will certainly still garner a lot of press, but this massive world has now been broken down into fractals and within each of those fractals there are people who garner a certain amount of attention from that community and in essence gain celebrity status. If you need an example of how quickly this can happen just look at the rise of The Left Shark.
Here’s where it gets really interesting. Since new communities are being formed online every day and certain people are rising to the top of those communities and attaining celebrity status, it means that there is the potential for everyone to gain some kind of celebrity status. We truly have hit the point where anyone can be a big fish because you can create your own small pond. We’ve watched this happen with bloggers and people who create YouTube tutorials and build a loyal following by putting out great content. I myself was made aware of this when I would be at a meeting and I’d mention someone like Seth Godin and someone would tell me they hadn’t heard of him. At first I was surprised given the number of books Seth has put out and the number of blog readers he has, but then I came to realize that he is a celebrity to me because I read his stuff and enjoy it. He’s not a celebrity to everyone. This also explains how the kids on Instagram can claim that Kanye just “discovered” one of music’s icons.
Everybody is a celebrity to somebody.
That means that at this very moment if there is someone you are afraid to reach out to because you think they wouldn’t pay attention you’re probably wrong. Your favorite author probably has an email address, your favorite YouTube celebrity probably has some kind of contact page, and your favorite movie star probably still reads their twitter feed and may direct message you. Now maybe you will reach out to someone and never hear back, but if you let the idea of celebrity keep you from trying, you’re absolutely limiting yourself. Many writers feel like they write in a vacuum and are thrilled when someone sends them a personal message and even if you think someone is too big to connect with the rest of the world may not agree with you.
Everybody is a celebrity to somebody.
This means that, unbeknownst to you, YOU could be a celebrity to someone at this very moment. Would you want that person to reach out to you?
The playing field has not only been leveled, it has been broken up in so many small sections everyone has a chance to play.
Why not you?
Excelsior!
