Does twitter make us all celebrities?

photo credit: Todd Huffman

I was reading a post this morning about how to spot “social media douchebags” and one of the traits was the thought they were celebrities because they were “popular” on twitter based on a follower count.

But after a brief conversation with a friend and various noted rumours I’ve heard about yours truly*. I’m now thinking twitter and its associated meet-ups. Makes us all celebrities.

What do I mean by that? That we are all judged WAY beyond how we should for our public actions and are twitter-mentioned or worse, DM’d about and I believe it’s because ours names have been in front of people all day.

A comparison of celebrities

Celebrities have fans. | Twitterati have followers

Celebrities have paparazi following them. | Twitterati, thanks to 4square tell everyone where they are

Celebrities make movies and do something | Twitterati – yeah, well what do they do?

Celebrities are scrutinised for everything they do | Twitterati are on a road to the same level of scrutiny

So is it that we converse with these people online only – so when we meet these people in real life – there is a bigger impact – “Oh!! you such-n-such! wow pleased to meet you!” And going by the number of lists that people have of “Met IRL” it seems that there is a weird form of twitter-spotting™ going on.

I’m unsure if this is healthy or is it what makes twitter so popular – this undercurrent of fake-celebrity, and lets face it – 140 characters, that meander across our screens each day isn’t remotely celebrity.

I should point out, that although I am a shameless fan of fame and celebrity, I am not in any way including myself in this fame, I am definitely NOT a celebrity, or think I am based on follower count or otherwise. Just that I’m intrigued that my actions are noted.

I am truly happy to be wrong about this. and happy to hear your thoughts as well.

*I’ll use the Oscar Wilde defence and be happy to be talked about, rather than not talked about.

Tagged as: twitter, twitter-spotting

iconic88

Love your twitter-spotting™ term Mal.

You know people are always looking to spot you mate ;-)

All the best!
Illdrinn

I spend a lot of time around people who are legendary in their own lunch time, I just box social media types in the same category and leave it at that. Some are pleasant, some are not, fame doesn't mean much to me but it sure as hell seems to mean a lot to others.

On the douchebag article, I <3 the picture. Also I have had that "no seriously how do you make money" conversation at least 3 times at #shtbox I kind of feel at the moment like the social media bubble has burst a little, and as is right, the good people rise to the surface and those riding the bubble fall back to Earth.

Personally I'll just stick with my nice comfy big corporate job and paddle my feet in the internet pool when it suits me.
franksting

norMal. You are famous. The famous King of #shtbox. Lets not undervalue ourselves. Everyone has 5 minutes, anyways. Even if it is fucking chk-chk-boom-yoke
mike

As much as you're likely to run into douchebags on the street, there's a good chance you're likely to run into a few in social media too. And yes there is definitely a massive impact - celebrity like - when you meet people IRL after having a purely online relationship.

from the blog you linked: is he right when he says "Apple is the douchebag emblem."? I would like to state a case for the Affirmative!
malDamkar

haha true there are douchebags everywhere, but what they do doesnt make them that, they were that all by themselves before any career I think.

And yep. Apple product as a trophy - is crazy.