All the World (Wide Web)’s a Stage: The Rise of the Microcelebrity

Last week we wondered if 2008 would be the year of the red coat – which reminded us of this piece in WIRED we stumbled upon before the holidays. In it, Clive Thompson offers his perspective on the idea of microcelebrity – fame on a small scale experienced by people whose lives have become increasingly visible thanks to blogs, SNSes, Twitter, and the web in general. Thompson acknowledges that the public broadcasting of one’s thoughts, relationships, daily routines and whereabouts on the internet requires an increasing level of discretion practiced by the microcelebrity – lest the public misread the “brand of you.” But he argues that this crafting of one’s online image, and a certain level of lifestyle-editing, is something people have been doing for as long as they’ve been gossiping:

The truth is that people are developing interesting social skills to adapt to microfame. We’re learning how to live in front of a crowd…

You could regard this as a sad development — the whole Brand Called You meme brought to its grim apotheosis. But haven’t our lives always been a little bit public and stage-managed? Small-town living is a hotbed of bloglike gossip. Every time we get dressed — in power suits, nerdy casual wear, or goth-chick piercings — we’re broadcasting a message about ourselves. Microcelebrity simply makes the social engineering we’ve always done a little more overt — and maybe a little more honest.

[via Wired]