When the Internet started, experts pontified that its major contributions and development would focus around the sharing of information, and that most people drawn to it would be using it for communications and data exchange. But what has emerged instead is that the Internet is mostly a tool for social exchange – people meeting like-minded people, and finding instant entertainment. This, combined with a shortening attention span, has created the phenomena of Internet Fame, where normal people can suddenly become internationally known for doing things they’d never suspect were entertaining to nearly everyone, like filming their son named Charlie bite his brother’s finger – the ‘Charlie Bit my Finger’ bit, viewed over 228 million times on Youtube, is prime example of Internet Fame.

How to Become Internet Famous

The dominate vehicle of Internet Fame comes in the form of a short, entertaining video. However, these videos share things in common that make them very hard to create: They are spontaneous; the video has to have the ring of authenticity that can’t be scripted or acted. They are original – there will never be an imitation ‘Charlie Bit my Finger.’ (The viewing public seems to be both fickle yet discriminatory toward redundancy.) There is almost no way of predicting whether a certain video will gain widespread popularity and go viral. Viral videos all share appeal that is very hard to place, and seemingly impossible to imitate on demand.

Social Media Spreading Internet Fame

Internet fame spreads through social media such as Facebook, where users instantly share their precious video finds. Then video links are chain emailed among friends, family, and coworkers, and fame spreads from there. A viral video can become so popular it makes it into the regular broadcast world, where it’s featured on television and mentioned on radio talk shows. This then increases the fame even more. Some people who become Internet Famous might get a domain name or website devoted to them, and they might be able to cash in on their fame – but only for a mere moment. As fast as you become Internet Famous, so you’re forgotten.