Hello all, my name is Emily Meath. I'm a junior comm major. I'm from a town in upstate new york called Glens Falls. I'm not sure what I want to do when I grow up, but I had a pretty sweet internship this summer at Warner Bros. studios in LA, I really love to study film and popular culture, and I feel like the topic of this class is particularly interesting because the internet is such a dynamic part of all of our lives and I think it's important and challenging to try and understand a phenomenon when you are in the midst of it. So anyway, one internet-related phenomenon that really interests me is, actually, the whole idea of blogging, and the sort of psychological basis of who blogs, who reads blogs, who contributes, why, etc. One thing that first came to my mind is the celebrity gossip blog, Perez Hilton. I really have no idea who this guy is, I don't really care, but I stumbled across this blog (as many, many others do), and I immediately became hooked. I thought he was pretty funny, and I have to admit I'm a sucker for celebrity gossip, but it just amazes me that this nobody has become absolutely huge, he's practically a household name (or was at the very least an office name where I worked this summer), just because he sits at his computer all day, making fun of people, being sassy, and reporting boring news about celebrities that you can easily find elsewhere, and yet somehow this has basically become his career. A nobody sitting in his house complaining about celebs vis blog somehow becomes a c-list celeb himself. This sort of role that the internet plays as a world-of-opportunity is really interesting to me. And it just amazes me, the amount of people who can stumble upon and become hooked on the same thing...another example would be the incredible pace at which a youtube video gains attention (I think most people know what I'm referring to if I say "Chocolate Rain," or "Shoes"). It's incredible to me how people navigate and find things on the internet, and how quickly things gain popularity, or even more so how a website (or should I say asynchronous discussion forum) about obtaining a license to have a mongoose as a pet manages to get any hits at all. It blows my mind.
1 comment:
Hey Emily,
I thought this was a really interesting blog entry. I always wonder what makes one youtube video, blogger, or website gain such huge popularity, while another youtube video, blogger, or website with equal humor, practicality, etc, gets lost in cyberspace. It seems to be completely random from an outsiders perspective. Though I have yet to stumble upon Perez Hiltons celebrity gossip blog, I am sure I can relate to various other websites or youtube videos, which we, and many other “comm245ers,” frequent on occasion. Despite being two strangers, we would undoubtedly stumble upon some of these websites or videos in conversation and have a good laugh. Another interesting point you bring up is the fact that this Perez Hilton has become a c-list celebrity, for what…Making entries onto the open and free blogosphere? This is an incredible realization. I am torn as to whether this man is worthy of congratulations or whether I should question what this world has come to. In addition, you posed several questions in the early part of your blog, “who blogs, who reads blogs, and who comments on blogs?” These are all very interesting questions; which, I’d imagine, don’t have definitive answers. These past few days have been my first ever blogging experience, and I must say, there is something interesting and exciting within this blogosphere we are working in.
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