The “I Read Of” Concept, Paris Hilton And LonelyGirl15

A while ago I read an interview in the NY Times with Steve Coogan, the star of the film Cock & Bull story – a film about a film that tried to adapt a rambling set of books about someone’s own life. The interviewer asked Coogan at the end of the interview if he had read the books to prepare for his role. Coogan looked back and replied, "I’ve read of them."

That phrase stuck with me since then and I didn’t know why – until this morning at Likemind where I met Prince. 

Having coffee this morning with Prince of the Chatreuse (BETA) blog at the Likemind get-together made me think about the phrase "I read of it".

Prince wrote an article that got huge buzz in the blogosphere this week: he wrote about the idea that Paris Hilton as a platform like Digg or YouTube: everytime she produces her own record or products, they flop -  but when wears other people’s clothes and uses other people’s products, they boom.

There’s more to this theory than what I just wrote. But I don’t know any more, because I never read Prince’s article. I read of it. I read about it in the extract to a link to it on the front page Digg, I read about it in the headlines of the RSS of other people’s blogs, I read the headline in a Google News email alert. I saw the article mentioned in so many places, I could work out that it was a hit, an important article. But I must admit, as I saw the top-line details of the article repeated in so many places, I thought I knew what it said.

I had read of it.

In our info-saturated world, are we using sound-bites and the volume of repetitions of those sound-bites to inform ourselves.

Here’s another example of a something I read of: LoneyGirl15. This is what I know of LonleyGirl15: It was the video diary of a girl which some thought was true but turned out to be an art project which some commentators questioned whether it could really be an art project but maybe really should be considered a dupe. I guess.

I guess I know the story about LonelyGirl15 – but I only know about her through scanning the headlines of blogs, newspaper and my RSS reader. In fact, just like the Chatreuse (BETA) article on Paris Hilton, I’ve never been to LonelyGirl15’s website to actually experience the video diaries first hand. I had read of LonelyGirl.

I don’t know where this all leads to but by talking to others like Jack Cheng after Likemind, I don’t think I’m the only one doing this. I think it reflects something going on with the style and distribution of information today and the way we gather it to inform ourselves.

Maybe we’re consumed with buzz. It could be something to do with what Jack suggested to me on the way down Bleeker Street to Soho – the culture surrounding an item or event is far more interesting that the item or event itself.

Technorati Tags: chatreuse beta, paris hilton, lonelygirl15, buzz