We Want Media

Did you know that blogging can get you a house? Well, it did for Kyle MacDonald, and he didn’t even have to solicit advertisers. In July of 2005, MacDonald began his quest to trade up to owning a house. He decided to log his journey on his blog, One Red Paperclip.

His first trade was a red paper clip, which got him a fish pen. Eventually, through the publicizing of his quest on his blog, he truly was able to achieve his goal to own a home. Kyle was one of the superstars featured on a recent VH1 show, Web Junk Presents: 40 Greatest Internet Superstars. What many of these superstars did was stuff average people do everyday. One person recorded himself fighting in a Star Wars-like battle. Another superstar recorded himself singing quite an interesting song. What separates many of these people from non-internet superstars is the fact that they either publicized their antics on the web, or had it publicized for them.

Not only does their fame illustrate the obvious, the internet is powerful, it also shows the growing shift on the monopoly of fame. Fame is no longer just for actors, actresses, singers, etc. With a little innovation, or perhaps some embarrassing karaoke singing, YOU too can become famous. It’s not necessarily “did you catch that new comedy”, but rather “did you download the clip of that guy making a fool of himself?”

One member of the internet superstar band Ok Go said, “We’d be a very small band if it wasn’t for the internet.” Their popularity reached new heights after they leaked one of their stranger music videos to YouTube. Another superstar, Tila Tequila, who gained prominence for her risqué pictures on MySpace said, “MySpace changed my life.”

Basically, no matter how insignificant you may think you are, you can gain prominence. You don’t need millions of dollars any more to make the masses laugh, to show your singing skills, etc. The saying goes, “the world is your oyster.” For the 21st century a more apt saying would be, “the internet is your oyster.”