The Microfame Game and the New Rules of Internet Celebrity Tweet
July 4, 2008 | This entry was posted in Videos and tagged celebrity, fame, jacob lobwick, micro, pop17, tila tequila, ze frank. Bookmark the permalink.Rex Sorgatz is a link blogger at fimoculous. He follows internet culture, music, tv, media, tech and recently published an article in New York Magazine on how to become microfamous in 8 steps. I thought it was interesting and decided to interview Rex about his eight steps (self-publish, stylize, overshare, respond, ally, diversify, create controversy, persist).
Podcast Video:
Podcast Video:
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Online Video:23 Responses to The Microfame Game and the New Rules of Internet Celebrity
FTW Bears says:
Go work for a bigger company who will use your fame?
Interesting to see Numa Numa guy referenced since really all he did with his original video was follow step #1. So the Golden Rule is to first create something that captures people’s imagination which is obviously the art/really-tough-part.
Nice post sarah, good food for thoughtHey Graham, thanks for watching and commenting!! I think I’d have to agree with the golden rule as being the hardest part.
If you can do that and do it more than once you can last with out the other steps. I know some people like Lisa Nova and BoBurnham who don’t follow the other steps, but because they follow the first one really really well they are successful.
Lawrence says:
everybody always occasionally writes the ‘rules’, or articles about how the game is played…
but like they say:
those that can do – Do.
and those that can’t, TeachNice One Lawrence.
Rex certainly does explain in simply. I just published this quote to the pop17 blog that says “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
Rex is a well known microfamous blogger with a cult following.
@Daryle Dickens I have a video coming up soon that explains how you can do a lot with microfame. Case in point: Jonathan Coulton.
What I really love about Internet celebrity is that the game is so new that no one really knows where we’re going. Rex’s eight steps could easily have been applied to young turks thirty years ago. Listening to him I was reminded of Peter Gabriel, constantly exploding his public image and inviting his friends to create new sounds on his records, or Nick Lowe, calling out David Bowie on record and releasing singles on a much quicker clip than his rivals to generate publicity. While the main rules of fame are similar in both old and new media, the sudden rise and proliferation within internet microfame will definitely shape how the rules are applied. An attempt to define where the concept will end up is futile, but a deep analysis of how we gained these new celebrities may well teach us how to sustain the new culture bred within the confines of microfame.
How microfamous are you?
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Techman says:
Great show Sarah! Sounds like the chapters to your new book!?
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Chris says:
Justin TV was NOT the early days! oh man…
Hi Sarah,
I’m working my way backwards from most recent back…. these two interviews were great…Fills me in a little bit on what Rex is up to since we only got a chance to sat hi for a minute at SXSW.
–Steve
Very informative article. I’ve found your blog via Google and I’m really happy about the information you provide in your posts. Btw your blogs layout is really messed up on the Chrome browser. Would be great if you could fix that. Anyhow keep up the good work!
One acknowledges that men’s life seems to be high priced, however different people need money for various stuff and not every one earns enough cash. Thence to receive quick loans and just auto loan would be good way out.
Great piece. What is the next step? What do you do with said microfame? Fame burns fast and one should be ready to leverage it somehow. Any ideas?