You Will Never Be An Online Celebrity

Online Celebrity - The Anti-Social MediaI have a not so secret obsession with Rebecca Black’s Friday.  It’s so bad, it’s hilarious to me. What’s even more hilarious are the hundreds of amazing and creative parodies and variations that people put together.

So, while I was looking around for more  random crap related to the Friday video, I found Benni Cinkle.

Benni is the girl in pink who dances awkwardly in the Friday video. She’s become something of a viral meme herself because the shot in the video is so bad and weird. However, instead of hiding away and hoping that she can pass into anonymity, she has embraced her awkwardness, and has built a better personal brand than you.

Benni has more Twitter followers than you. She also has more Facebook Fans, more YouTube subscribers, and more Tumblr followers. Her Klout score is even better than yours and all she did was dance in a video for a total of 5 seconds.

You can work as hard as you want to become an influencer and thought leader. You can put yourself out there daily, and tweet, comment, and blog all the damn time. But there is a certain level of serendipity and luck that goes into becoming an online celebrity that is outside of your control. You can’t force people to make you go viral. You can’t make people find you entertaining or insightful. The most you can do is keep working hard and hope your efforts pay off.

Or maybe start dancing badly in other people’s videos and hope it goes viral. Both have pretty much the same shot at internet celebrity at this point anyways.

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22 Responses to “You Will Never Be An Online Celebrity”

  1. Miguel Camacho June 16, 2011 at 8:52 am #

    The “Benni has more Twitter followers than you” paragraf is one the best you´ve Write so far Jay, makes me laugh so badly.

    • Jay June 16, 2011 at 9:22 am #

      I’m just here to bring a smile.

  2. Amy Phillips June 16, 2011 at 8:52 am #

    Well, this post was fucking depressing. Thanks. Also, if I start dancing I may hurt someone.

    The more you know.

    • Jay June 16, 2011 at 9:22 am #

      At least it was fucking depressing. It could have been just plain depressing.

      • Amy Phillips June 16, 2011 at 2:38 pm #

        never do anything halfway. Why make it plain when it can rock the fuck out? Also, I may be trying to see how many times I can swear on your site and get away with it. This amount of mischief is directly related to my venti iced latte.

  3. aburtch June 16, 2011 at 8:59 am #

    You got that one right. Well put.

    • Jay June 16, 2011 at 9:23 am #

      It’s my blog. I’m always right on here.

  4. Benni Cinkle June 16, 2011 at 10:12 am #

    But Jay, you didn’t mention my free ebook for kids on cyber-bullying, or that I used my awkward dance to raise money for Japan, and how I’ve helped raised thousands of dollars for Cystic Fibrosis, and donated my paintings to charity…. And the best part: that “That Girl in Pink” is now a non-profit organization! http://www.thatgirlinpink.org. I mean, what’s point of all this fame, if you don’t use it to help others?

    • Jay June 16, 2011 at 4:24 pm #

      Benni! Thanks for comenting!

      Honestly, I’d just use all that fame for my own self-promotion and advancement. I’m glad you’re using it for something better than i would.

    • Camilo Olea June 16, 2011 at 4:46 pm #

      Please Benni, post a link to the original video! It got removed at youtube :(

  5. Andy June 16, 2011 at 11:21 am #

    Great article Jay, you keep me amused at work, and kudos to Benni for using accidental online fame for good and for responding here!

    • Jay June 16, 2011 at 1:42 pm #

      Yeah, kudos to her indeed. I would just use my online fame to sell more crap.

  6. Janet M. Kennedy June 16, 2011 at 11:39 am #

    And if she did it all with just 5 seconds of video, imagine what she could do with her other 14:55 of fame!

    • Jay June 16, 2011 at 1:00 pm #

      Now you’ve got me worried Janet.

  7. Morgan June 16, 2011 at 12:47 pm #

    People get famous for the stupidest things.

    • Jay June 16, 2011 at 1:00 pm #

      Yeah, fame is weird.

  8. Rob June 16, 2011 at 1:49 pm #

    So do the same rules apply if you are trying to use the internet to rule the world? Should I start coming up with my “rule the world shuffle” or keep plugging away at social media to reach that end?

    • Jay June 16, 2011 at 4:26 pm #

      Why not do both?

  9. Camilo Olea June 16, 2011 at 3:50 pm #

    So you’re saying I should have been dancing awkwardly in other people’s videos instead of doing lame, boring stuff like getting a college degree, job, etc?

    I’ll be curled up in fetal position crying over the corner, thanks.

    • Jay June 16, 2011 at 3:51 pm #

      Yeah. Who needs to try anymore to succeed?

  10. Laura D. June 16, 2011 at 4:01 pm #

    And yet, ironically Rebecca Black took down her Friday video from youtube claiming copyright infringement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0

    Curious what you think about that.

    • Jay June 16, 2011 at 4:16 pm #

      Copyright is a complex and emotional issue and I hope the video comes back soon so I can dance my butt off tomorrow.