tIn a celebrity driven culture, youth ministries face the challenge of ministering to thousands of micro-celebrities as the nature of celebrity changes.
In years past, youth ministers have relied on quotes from the hottest celebrities to drive points home with teenagers. However, it might be more effective to quote the micro-celebrities in the room rather than the mega-celebrities in the tabloids.
Traditional celebrity lives and dies based on raw numbers: how many magazines mention them, how many television shows feature them, how many people talk about them around the water cooler. However, the Internet is setting a new standard for celebrity. Fame is no longer about getting "15 minutes," it's about becoming famous to 15 people.
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Before, fame was about scarcity, with only a few people reaching the status of celebrity, but Weinberger points out the fame of the Internet is about abundance. As a community we help bestow it, and as individuals any of us can achieve it, given the right circumstances. "Fame is becoming ours, we are making it ours, as we are doing so much else in our culture. Fame now reflects us," says David Weinberger from the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
Another distinctive of Internet micro fame is the person is less famous than the content. No one may actually know the name of the star in a famous YouTube video, but the video content itself might be shared across millions of viewers every day. The result is an interesting dynamic where everyone is famous (or expects to be), nobody cares, and the moviestars still are the only ones getting paid.
Discussion StartersDoes our culture's increasing promises of celebrity pose a challenge for teenagers as they seek realistic careers? What activities involving the Internet might youth ministries develop or use to help students feel known and valued without becoming addicted to micro-celebrity?
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