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How to Become a Web Legend (aka pseudo-faux celebrity)

WSJ writer Lee Gomes talked to some of the web legends about how to become famous. Here’s his article, which includes quotes from Numa Numa, EepyBird, Chocolate Rain.

If you can think of an online cliche, a one-hit wonder, a 16th minute of fame…. then he interviewed ’em.

“To be sure, being the latest, greatest Web meme has its drawbacks. You’re human kitsch, so you’re never sure whether people are laughing with you or at you,” says Lee.

Shoot. There’s a difference?

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10 Comments

  1. Hey Kevin, one hit wonders may come and go and eventually relegated to the back of your favorites list, so how can creators struggling to make some headway get the support they need.

    Here’s a list on how viewers can Support Creators and Creators can Support viewers on You Tube.

    Pardon some of the more obvious suggestions.

    -How to Support a Creator.
    1. When is comes to people you watch regularly get into a steady habit of five staring their video before it plays. Note to Creators: Mark Days’ approach really works in case people forget.

    2. For your steady creators list make sure you always leave a comment.

    3. If you really like the video favorite it, make a positive comment and send a short message telling them why. Also, add the video to your, ‘outside of you tube,’ “You’ve got to see this!” e-mail list, blog or message boards.

    4. If you have just discovered someone and really like their video favorite it and send them a message telling them why. If they already have a body of work and you like at least three of their videos subscribe and send them a short message telling them why, then spread the word to other tubers or feature their video on your channel.

    5. If you really, really like the idea make a video response; if you have the tools and time.

    -What do viewers expect in return from the creator? Acknowledgment: Any of the following work.

    1. A comment for a comment: if the comment somehow inspires a response or if it is lengthy.

    2. A message of thanks for a message of thanks. (see #3 #4 above)

    3. Mutual Response Support: If the creator likes your video response they should feature it on their page for at least 3 days. You Tube allows up to three, I think, feature videos on a channel. (see #5 above)

    These aren’t hard and fast rules and there are probably a few things I am missing, so please add your ideas to the Viewer Creator Support List 🙂

  2. Numa Numa doesn’t even have to work?? He’s the definition of one-hit wonder!

    Excuse me while I go slit my wrists. I think I’ll do it on cam. Maybe I won’t have to work then either.

  3. I think at this point, there’s one article about YT and it just gets circulated like fruit cake during the holidays. Jan- good points.

  4. Hey Nalts. Remember when that one journalist wrote with puzzlement and some condescension about how I had 350 videos on the subject of Zardoz at Revver? Hahaha! Talk about lazy journalism! She didn’t even bother to look at ONE of my videos before she published that misinformation. Scarier still…neither did her editors.

  5. This article is just a ripple from rocks that Oprah throws into the media pond. Oprah says she loves this book: people buy the book, media reports on people buying the book, book gets lifted up on high as being the darling of the print industry. Oprah finds out and gets upset that book might not be factual: publishers reimburse and apologize, media is appalled and explores plagiarism in publishing, people are outraged and hurt.

    The media rarely goes much deeper in finding stories than watching what Oprah is saying, yet Oprah is guilty of doing the same lackluster searching for stories. She is not finding the diamonds in the rough, but rather, just exploiting popular culture.

    Oprah found out about YouTube and her people put together information and clips from the site without getting into the meat/community of it all. So, Oprah does here YouTube show: people get excited and flock to see about these YouTubes, the media sees people getting excited about YouTubes, the media reports on these.

    All of it is recycled from Oprah (and other big media), and that just means it is the recycled muck that floats on the surface. I am surprised the guy didn’t ask the skateboarding dog what he thought.

    There is a noticeable evolution or pattern in media today. My question: as all media grows, can the pattern be avoided? Is the repeating of bad news similar to how on YouTube (and on tv, too!) we see so many people doing “Leave Brittany Alone” parodies? Is this the same as a news person “retelling” an Oprah story? Can someone recycle a bad story into something good? Are we all part of the same system of pointless media? If so, how do we get out of it? I could go on and on about this but I will stop before I get too worked up and run off to live with the Amish.

    Thanks for sharing the article, Nalts.

  6. When you’re looking for original videos, look for me. I don’t do Writer’s Strike videos or Reaction to 2girl1cup porn videos or Oprah Go Home videos or Leave Brittany Alone parodies or retreads of emo spoofs or One World videos or Zefrank Wannabe videos or any of that stuff that is trendy for a couple of weeks. Hahaha! My stuff is never trendy, pop culture….or popular. I’m so proud of that.

  7. Don’t get me wrong, rabidly fanatical Nalts fans, of the dozens and dozens of Writer’s Strike, OprahGo Home, and Leave (Insert Here) Alone videos I’ve seen, Kevins were the best. So don’t spam the comments rating system on my videos!

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