The ranks of the famous have traditionally been roles filled by movie stars, television stars, athletes and rock stars. The countenance of celebrity is changing to include a new, technology-oriented kind of superstar: The Vlogger. A vlog, if you have been hiding under a rock, is a blog (self-published online diary) with video. The vlog is trumping the blog as far as notoriety goes and the public’s love of the moving image hasn’t seen this much popularity since the invention of the moving picture in 1895. The difference being the technology necessary to become a vlogger, or to take the media into your own hands in the form of ‘citizen journalism’ as the genre is now touted, is becoming easier and easier. A camera, broadband, hosting site, software and content are the components needed to be a potential vlogstar.
Forbes.com has listed the Web Celeb 25, a summation of the current internet superstars influencing the Internet. Bloggers, podcasters and vloggers are among the individuals revolutionizing the Internet as we know it.
Forbes.com defines the “Web Celeb” as “as a person famous primarily for creating or appearing in Internet-based content, and for being highly recognizable to a Web-based audience. That definition excludes people who were significantly famous before they hit the Web–like author Arianna Huffington, billionaire Mark Cuban or journalist Michelle Malkin–and leaves us with a pool of people whose fame depends on the Internet.”
Forbes’ No. 1 Web Celeb is the American/New Zealand actress Jessica Rose, originally known as Bree from the successful lonelygirl15 series. She stars in an ongoing series about a 16-year-old home-schooled American teenager that was originally presented as a personal vlog, but has since been outed as a scripted and produced drama series. Lonelygirl15’s fan base breeched into the millions and she is one of YouTube’s most popular stars. The series began June 16, 2006 and the secrecy regarding the series was revealed in August. The false pretense of the show and subsequent disclosure has done nothing but increase the commercial ratings of the show. Thus, proving the validity of the Internet-based star attracting worldwide attention and providing a workshop for future fame.
Number 11 on the Forbes list is Brooklyn, NY based performance artist Hosea Frank (aka ZeFrank) with his daily broadcast ‘The Show with ZeFrank’.
Forbes pronounced Amanda Congdon, formerly of Rocketboom fame, at NO. 8, with her new daily downloadable program from http://ABCNews.com. Rocketboom became one of the most downloaded and viewed sites on the Internet while she was the host for 1.5 years. She split with her partner and launched an independent show ‘Starring Amanda Congdon.’
Before there was the vlog, there was the blog. Bloggers stand firm in the Forbes list of ‘who’s who’ in the Internet. Perez Hilton, a celebrity gossip starmonger comes in at No. 2. Tech guru, Michael Arrington (NO. 10) and Markos Moulitsas (No. 3), a political savant, both prominent and heavy-hitters in the blogosphere.
Blogebrity’s Kyle Bunch had this to say about the pervasive technology of the vlog, “Now that we’re seeing more and more video blogging, where the output is a bit more comparable to the TV/movie output, I fully expect some genuine ‘stars’ in the traditional sense to rise to prominence online.”
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