The Strengths & Pitfalls of Social Media Fame Image by “Shaman42”

By: Rishi Vala

“In the 1990s, the line between fame

and obscurity was easy to find.”

Image by Vinoth Chandar

- Kate Knibbs

Source: How Social Media has Changed what it means to be a Celebrity

When you were generally famous for being an actor, a sports star, a politician, or even a business magnate.

Image by Kevin Dooley

There were many paths to fame, but the majority involved networking, going through agents, access to large sums of money, and most importantly…

Image by Trey Ratcliffe

Getting the BIG break.

Image by Darthpedrius

Image by Simon Steinberger

A celebrity chosen by the people.

Image by Mike Krzeszak

Social media outlets such as Faceboook, Twitter, and Youtube have elevated people to levels of fame they’d

Never Reach Before.

Image by “Jerolek”

For instance, Justin Bieber acquired his claim to fame

through posting videos onYoutube.

He is arguably the first

“Youtube Superstar.” Image by Rob Campbell

Unconventional celebrities have also carved a niche for themselves by the power of their tweets or photos.

Image by M. Trombone

Megan Amram has become the writer for NBC’s sitcom Parks and Recreation.

After graduating from Harvard she started a twitter account that was funny enough to achieve over 90,000 followers.

Image by Griffin Technology

Source: How Social Media has Changed what it means to be a Celebrity

Even people who do not want to shine in the

spotlight somehow find a way to become famous.

Image by “Visualogist”

“Platforms like Reddit played an important role in

filtering unique moments

that would have otherwise gone

unnoticed.” - Christine Erickson

Image by Thomas Leiser

Source: 15 People Made Famous by the Internet in 2012

Access to all this information at

the palm of your hand raises the concern of online

privacy.

Image by Amrit

Some even go as far as stating,

“Privacy is a has-been luxury, a relic of a bygone,

unwired era.”

- Cristen Conger

Image by Thierry Ehrmann

Source: Is The Internet Destroying Privacy?

“The most dynamic cultural

icons kept you wanting more by

staying slightly

out of reach.” - C. Cleveland

Image by Phrontis

Source: Is Social Media Ruining Celebrity Mystique?

Amateur photographers and gossipers with

smartphones are emerging into the paparazzi industry by selling their smartphone-captured photos...

Image by “Muha”

And deflating the cost by spreading

them freely over the

internet. Image by Eneas De Troya

As of April 15, 2013,

“On Instagram alone,

there are 1,159 photos tagged with

– Kate Knibbs Image by “TimmyGUNZ”

Source: How Social Media has Changed what it means to be a Celebrity

#celebsighting, and most of them capture

unsuspecting celebrities doing normal stuff.”

“Eventually, people will get immune to social

media driving this instant celebrity, instant recognition, but for now it’s a novelty.” – Adam Hanft

Image by Robert Couse-Baker Source: Instant Celebrity: Just Add Social Media

A society in which everything is recorded

“will forever tether us to all our past actions,

making it impossible, in practice, to escape them” – Viktor Mayer-Schönberger

Image by Adam Foster Source: How Social Media can Cost your Job and your Reputatoin

Credits

All images are licensed under the Creative Commons Non-Commercial

Share-Alike 3.0 agreement sourced from Flickr & Wikipedia Commons