I’ll hazard a guess you might be less familiar with the names of Garrett Camp and Joshua Schachter than their social media startup companies. True or false?
Can you tell me the internet contributions of Charlene Li, Chris Brogan, and Julia Allison? How about Guy Kawasaki, Steve Garfield, Robert Scoble, and Reid Hoffman?
Based on those of you who comment and retweet my blog posts, I have a fair sense who read my fodder. How many of the above names are you familiar with? Can you share in 140 characters or less their social media relevance?
Whether you use the definition of cewebrity or weblebrity, the fact remains some people are more famous for their internet discoveries, startups, or trains of thought than others.
But are they famous within some circles and not others? There are guides how to be famous online and intellectual discussions who owns the credential, but who can identify names beyond technology circles in which they work?
More specifically, would new media directors of the Fortune 1000 be able to recognize such names and either answer or pair up their internet connectedness? I’ll assume few would compare Seth Godin to permissive marketing or Josh Bernoff to the groundswell.
The test begins now. Social Media Today co-founder Jerry Bowles, in a Skype conversation with me today, agreed such a Fortune 1000 study would provide informative results. I intend to gather names of people who have internet fame and ask a random sample of new media directors if they recognize the names and why. And, to prevent potential internet lookups, I’ll ask such questions by telephone for on-the-spot answers.
Who has internet fame and why do they have it? Got ideas? Add a comment below!
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I’m familiar with all the names on the list except one, and I could probably describe what the others do in 140 or less, but my guess is that the brief summary wouldn’t be doing them justice. They are all involved in far too many ventures!
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Look forward to the results, Ari. I’m thinking a few people who might think they’re “famous” will find out they’re less relevant than expected in the eyes of the wider audience.
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I’m familiar with most of the names you mentioned and like Ken, wouldn’t be able to do them justice in less than 140 characters.
I’m looking forward to the results as well, but I can’t answer your question of “Who has internet fame and why?” because really, it might be a small world, but it’s a big internet, and many are famous in their own circles. The names you mentioned are key players in “our world,” but I bet there are a lot of people that we’ve never heard of whom others consider “internet famous.” It all depends on where you hang out and what your interests are.
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Ari – I saw you on an episode of PTV Live – http://www.permissiontv.com/about/blog/69/2009-07-21-ptv_live_episode_27_ari_herzog
YOU must be internet famous by now, right?
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Dude, GREAT idea.
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The 140-character bit was an afterthought.
Ken: Do you think it’s fair to ask Fortune 1000 social media directors, communicators, PR departments, etc if they recognize leading bloggers and other online evangelists?
Danny and Stacy: What about the results are you looking forward to?
Matthew: If I’m famous, what are you?
Tyler: Suggested people to include?
There are some “names” that have been doing a heckuva lot of self-promotion recently, just be interesting to see that if they’re less known than they may feel personally, what (if any) spin will be put on the result.
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Along those lines, not that I’m one of those “names” – as I would say that I have no Internet fame – but what little recognition I do get (that I am VERY happy to get!) was made entirely possible by self-promotion via social media.
June 22, 2008, I stepped onto Twitter. I’d only used Facebook & Myspace before that, and not for anything other than socializing with friends minimally.
Today, I have ~1200 followers on Twitter and I’ve never done anything but try to learn who I am, help other people as much as possible (because I love to do it). My blog gets maybe 20 regular readers per day, nothing to write home about. But that’s 20 more than 0. So it’s progress, and I’m being authentic, genuine, and sticking to who I am along the way. In essence, I couldn’t be happier
Now pin that against some heavily self-promoting “names” as of late, I’d be interested in learning how they self-score themselves on happiness, success, etc.
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Ari – Sure it’s fair, but why? What do they/we/you get out of such an exercise?
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Well I guess it really depends on what category in which you’re trying fit, eh?
How about Jeremiah Owyang, Clay Shirky, Jakob Nielsen, Penelope Trunk, and David Meerman Scott for starters?
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@Ari I’m not necessarily looking forward to one aspect or another about the results, I just think your idea is interesting and would like to see what comes of it.
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Permissive marketing is sort of the opposite of permission marketing, no? I think of permissive marketing as something that happens if you’re a spammer or if you used to be Britney Spears…
Thanks for including me!
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Ahh, but if you ask for my permission, aren’t you permissive by definition?
Does it matter?
What I mean is this: what value to Fortune 1000 execs is knowing anyone in the social media industry?
Knowing who Chris Brogan in and of itself would be of little value to C-wing, wouldn’t it? Reading his blog, tweets or attending one of his speeches – certainly that would be of value.
Here’s what I think: the 21st Century won’t have an Edward Bernays.
There are thought leaders – and I suspect that Google and Twitter may increase the chances that they will continue to emerge, but the decentralized nature of social media implies an infinite variety of applications.
Prediction: as more execs start to use social media in their personal lives, light bulbs will go off in the (bright) minds. Then they will seek out content and of course the people who appear to be leaders.
In the long-run the only thing famous on the Internet is…the Internet.
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Great video on PTV! You are truly an expert in the industry of social media and I enjoy your website’s informative and interesting approach! You are doing a great job, keep up the good work.