I’ve been observing an interesting phenomenon these past few days: Internet fame. Until now, this fame was something I viewed from a distance. People would pass on the usual funny photo, video clip, or story. I’ve seen things I’ve viewed end up on the news or make a headline. I never stopped to consider what it must be like behind the scenes for the people who started the ball rolling in the first place.
In the case of the Star Wars Kid, it nearly ruined his life. Here was a high school kid who was caught on film in an empty band room pretending to be a super bo staff martial artist. He was a geek, overweight, not particularly popular, and thought his moves were oh-so-cool so he decided to film them.
Someone got a hold of the film clip and did some animation special effects. The person set it to music and before long, the Star Wars Kid was born. For the rest of us, it was funny as hell. The poor kid was utterly humiliated.
The other day, Jamie sent me a link to an eBay listing. The woman, Dawn, had Pokeman cards up for auction and a hilarious story in the description box as to how she had acquired these cards. One of our writers found Dawn’s blog, “Because I Said So”, and we’ve been able to follow what someone goes through when Internet fame strikes.
Dawn has received many offers from publishers and the media, and I’m eager to see if this will turn out to be something of substance for her in the future. (We offered her a job. She’s too busy right now, but she’ll get back to us.)
She has also been inundated with email (10,000 and counting) and blog hits. The numbers are astounding. I can’t imagine being flooded with so much attention. It makes me wonder what I would do if one of our posts ever became famous. I guess it just goes to show, be careful what you wish for. You might get it.
I’m also curious to see how long Dawn’s fame lasts. How long is a virtual 15 minutes?
Good luck, Dawn, and when you’re ready, you can still write for us!
So how long did Dawn’s fame last? And why is no one commenting?
Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..Synchronicities: Just Coincidence, Or Signs From The Universe?
This is an old post, from last year before we hit our stride. I’m not sure how long her fame lasted. I stopped following her blog a while ago. Guess we could go look and see if she’s still posting?
I found this post after reading “Keeping Up When Your Blog Takes Off.” I find the subject of Internet Fame fascinating because there is no way of knowing just when it’ll hit.
If that’s what you’re aiming for, there’s no set formula – it just “happens.” There’s no way of predicting it and more often than not, it usually catches the person by surprise. In a funny sort of way, most bloggers dream for this but when it happens, they might end up wishing they never got that much attention in the first place. It’s a fickle thing.
Now, I’ve never had this happen to me so I can’t tell you what it must be like but I am fascinated with it so I tried to find more information about the Star Wars Kid and Dawn. Thanks to Google, I found the kid’s video but I couldn’t find anything about Dawn. I even went to her site but she didn’t seem to have anything about her hilarous Pokemon story. Where is it? I’m curious.
Stephen Hopson’s last blog post..End of the Week Gratitude Theme #23