Who Is This Year's Ultimate Web Celeb?
By Melissa Hunter
TV and movies are so 2004. Any celebrity who wants to stay famous uses the Internet as a platform to catapult his or her career. But what is it that makes the biggest Web Celeb? Is it legions of Twitter followers? A provocative blog? A viral video? We take a look at the year's fron-trunners, and hopefully by the year's end we'll determine the ultimate Celebrity 2.0.
Candidate #1: Ashton Kutcher, the Twitter King
In the ultimate popularity contest, Ashton Kutcher challenged CNN to a race to a million followers on Twitter. His campaign promises included charity contributions, playing Ding-Dong Ditch on Ted Turner's house, and a copy of Guitar Hero to his millionth follower. He ended up beating CNN and followed through on his Ted Turner stunt (a prankster like that could never renege). Beating out the biggest news network on the ultimate information-sharing site is pretty impressive. Apparently people are more interested in Demi Moore's butt than the recession. No shocker there.
Candidate #2: Lindsay Lohan, the Self-Spoofer
Lohan has undergone extreme media scrutiny for her diminishing weight, declining career, deteriorating bank account, and of course her destructive relationship with Sam Ronson. So when news came that the couple split, Lohan didn't do the expected by going into hiding or a week-long bender. OK, so maybe she did a little of each, but then she put her nose to the grindstone -- or hired writers and producers who did, at least.
Through Funny or Die, she posted a rather hilarious eHarmony profile spoof, in a refreshingly spot-on self-referential parody. The video has over 3.3 million hits, and earned Lohan some cred that has counteracted maybe, like, one blackout night at the Chateau Marmont.
Candidate #3: P. Diddy, the Overtweeter
There are plenty of overtweeters (as this site shows us) out there. From telling us what they're cooking for breakfast to what number they've got going on in the bathroom, there's definitely a TMI element to the microblogging site. But our favorite oversharer of them all is exclamation point lover Diddy, aka @iamdiddy. While he mostly reads as a motivational speaker (e.g. "if you wanna do it you can do it but you gotta really DO IT!!! Let's go!!!!!!!!!!") or an enthusiastic self-cheerleader (e.g., "You can't stop my go!!!! I've been born to be who I am!!!"), there have definitely been a few times when Mr. Combs has given us more information than we'd ever need to know. This came in the form of the tweet: "Having tantric sex!!!! I feel so much better.!!! Thank you."
OK. Breathe. So he's been an advocate for tantra for several years, but what got most of us with this one was the present tense with which he tweeted. Was he tweeting whilst doing the horizontal polka? In any case, the TMI tweet was all over the Web, and he's got 1.5 million followers. Really hope that #havingtantricsex didn't become a trending topic.
Candidate #4: Kim Kardashian, the TwitPic Self-Portrait Extraordinaire
There are very few people who can incite such Internet uproar from TwitPics like Kim Kardashian. In a photo shoot in April, she posted a picture of herself with blond hair on her Twitter, saying "I'm loving my new blond hair!" This (for whatever reason) spawned a whirlwind of criticism and scrutiny on the Armenian-American beauty's new look.
Then, hey, guess what? Kim outsmarted all of us. Yep. Let that one sink in. The blond hair was a wig she was donning for a photo shoot. And in yet another TwitPic, this time more of an SOS, she posted a painful/ hilarious image of herself sunburned while on a vacation with boyfriend Reggie Bush. The photo managed to get on every photo blog along with thousands and thousands of comments. Who needs the paparazzi when you can get your pics and stories directly to your audience?
Candidate #5: John Mayer in "Mankini: The Sequel"
The second annual Mayercraft set sail earlier this year and everyone was waiting with baited breath for the infamous (Borat knockoff) mankini to debut on the classless Mr. Mayer. But you didn't have to be on the ship to see the neon green spandex make its debut. Pictures of John Mayer sniffing the swimsuit (if you want to call it that) onstage almost immediately circulated around the Internet. Along with those photos came ones of him in questionably short shorts, drunk on the shoulders of a handsome young man. Surprisingly, gay rumors didn't end up swirling. Mostly just douchebag rumors.
Candidate #6: Kanye West, the Ultimate Blog Ranter
Kanye may be a rap star, but he's widely known for his, let's say, quirky quotes -- such as being THE voice of our generation, being God's vessel, and how we should all give that poor Chris Brown a break. So, it was only natural that Kanye would love to have an open public forum like his blog.
West got on one particular rant in May that garnered some attention directed toward Twitter. Apparently microblogging is simply too small potatoes for a seasoned long-form blogger like himself. And he can't handle impersonators. He tried to single-handedly take Twitter down, which surely he believed he could do. And his affinity for CAPITAL LETTERS in his rants gets people's attention as well. Why? "BECAUSE MY CAPS LOCK KEY IS LOUD!!!!!!!!!"*
*As proven by Diddy, exclamation points also help prove points.
Candidate #7: Sacha Baron Cohen, the Viral Hoaxer
At the MTV Movie Awards, a winged Bruno (Sacha Baron Cohen) flew through the audience suspended on cords only to fall on ... EMINEM!!! NO WAY! What a friggin' crazy, totally not staged, completely spontaneous coincidence!!! While this was a televised event, let's be real: No one actually watches MTV Movie Awards in real time.
The clip circulated swiftly through pretty much every blog and Web site. In spite of all sense and logic, MTV, Sacha Baron Cohen and Eminem successfully tricked millions of people into believing this was a crazy twist of fate. It spurred tons of "Bruno" hype and potentially gave Eminem the acting comeback he's been dreaming of. "9 Mile" here we come!
Candidate #8: Lily Allen, the Costumed TwitPic-er
Lily isn't one to shy away from attention-grabbing antics. In fact, they're heavily encouraged in her Lily world. So what better way to show off some kooky behavior than through her legions of Twitter followers?
While performing in Japan, Lily posted a series of pictures of herself dressed in furry animal costumes. Why? Well, explaining it would ruin the fun (and speculation). And again in her TwitPic antics, she broke the news that she (and her club buddy Lindsay Lohan) got tattoos on their index fingers mimicking Rihanna's. Jeez, all these celebrity tweets are gonna make bloggers obsolete. I mean, um, just kidding. We're necessary. Please keep employing us.
Candidate #9: Zac Efron, Host of the Worst Online Pool Party
Funny or Die has done something right because it seems to have all of the funniest online celebrity videos. Zac Efron starred in another viral Funny or Die video set at a BBQ he hosted that gets crashed by his white trash uncle.
While Zac is the star of the video, the cast contains a variety of awesomely random star cameos. My personal favorite moment was Brody Jenner asking "But is Paul Krugman a true Keynesian economist?" to a bunch of lingerie models. In any event, Zac's deadpan performance in conjunction with some superb "Reno 911!" star performances made this an instant video classic.
Candidate #10: Susan Boyle, the Quintessential YouTube Phenomenon
Susan Boyle: The most famous cat lady of all time ("The Simpsons" Cat Lady is planning her comeback). While the "Britain's Got Talent" breakout star had her debut on TV, most everyone saw the incredible performance on YouTube. Seventy million of us, in fact. With her moment that shocked the audience (and faux-shocked the judges), the entire world fell in love (in a way) with Susan.
Then came the inevitable controversial sound bites, swarms of paparazzi, and momentary breakdown. Unfortunately for Susan (or maybe fortunately?), the Boyle phenomenon is fizzling fast. That's what happens when you get famous with a fickle, ADD-ridden Internet audience. OMG, look, a chubby kid just burped the alphabet, BRB!
Stay tuned for additional nominees in the coming months!
Check back every month for our newest Web Celeb contenders, and vote for your favorite at the end of the year.
In the meantime, visit People's Choice to cast your vote on http://www.peopleschoice.com/
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