Rex Sorgatz wrote last year about the concept of the nanocelebrity when he wrote “[t]he point is that renown is no longer the exclusive province of a select few. Nano-celebrity is there for the taking, if you really want it.” I believe that he was talking about celebrity at the micro level and was getting the scope of an individual’s fame wrong. He posted the eight steps to microfame; which are self-publish, stylize, overshare, respond, ally, diversify, create controversy & persist. Those steps would work very well to individual who wish to market themselves to a limited general public. The nanocelebrity for the most part is not trying to create fame for fame sake. Rather, a nanocelebrity uses his or her knowledge to attract followers and, in turn, create buzz about themselves. Nanocelebrities are different from the traditional concept of an expert as they still use the channels available to promote themselves and their work. Therefore, it is fair to create a different set of rules in the development of the nanocelebrity.
The next set of posts in this blog will be to develop these rules and create a working definition to help those people who want some amount of fame through the knowledge and their understanding of the world. By understand how the gears and knobs work in this environment, we as online society can build a meritocracy that rewards knowledge and blocks the vapid small talk that tends to weigh down the usefulness of microblogs and other online communities.
