Social media has lowered the barriers to fame, allowing people to achieve notoriety through platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram without needing traditional avenues like agents or large sums of money. It has given rise to unconventional celebrities and has allowed some to leverage their online popularity into more mainstream opportunities. However, perpetual connectivity and the ability to capture everything on smartphones has diminished privacy and the mystique around celebrities, with amateur photos and details of their personal lives now easily shared online. The constant recording of people's lives also raises concerns about permanently tethering them to their past actions on the internet.

1. The Strengths & Pitfalls
of Social Media Fame Image by “Shaman42”
By: Rishi Vala

2. “In the 1990s, the
line between fame
and obscurity was
easy to find.”
Image by Vinoth Chandar
- Kate Knibbs
Source: How Social Media has Changed what it means to be a Celebrity

3. When you were
generally famous for
being an actor, a sports
star, a politician, or
even a business
magnate.
Image by Kevin Dooley

4. There were many paths
to fame, but the majority
involved networking,
going through agents,
access to large sums of
money, and most
importantly…
Image by Trey Ratcliffe

5. Getting the BIG break.
Image by Darthpedrius

6. Image by Simon Steinberger

7. A celebrity chosen by the people.
Image by Mike Krzeszak

8. Social media outlets such as Faceboook, Twitter, and
Youtube have elevated people to levels of fame they’d
Never Reach Before.
Image by “Jerolek”

9. For instance,
Justin Bieber
acquired his
claim to fame
through posting
videos
onYoutube.
He is
arguably the
first
“Youtube
Superstar.”Image by Rob Campbell

10. Unconventional celebrities have also carved a niche
for themselves by the power of their tweets or photos.
Image by M. Trombone

11. Megan Amram has become the writer for NBC’s
sitcom Parks and Recreation.
After graduating from Harvard she started a twitter
account that was funny enough to achieve over
90,000 followers.
Image by Griffin Technology
Source: How Social Media has Changed what it means to be a Celebrity

12. Even people who do not want to shine in the
spotlight somehow find a way to become famous.
Image by “Visualogist”

13. “Platforms like Reddit played an important role in
filtering unique moments
that would have otherwise gone
unnoticed.”
- Christine Erickson
Image by Thomas Leiser
Source: 15 People Made Famous by the Internet in 2012

14. Access to all this information at
the palm of your hand
raises the concern of online
privacy.
Image by Amrit

15. Some even go as far as stating,
“Privacy is a has-been luxury, a relic of a bygone,
unwired era.”
- Cristen Conger
Image by Thierry Ehrmann
Source: Is The Internet Destroying Privacy?

16. “The most
dynamic cultural
icons kept you
wanting more by
staying slightly
out of reach.”
- C. Cleveland
Image by Phrontis
Source: Is Social Media Ruining
Celebrity Mystique?

17. Amateur photographers and gossipers with
smartphones are emerging into the paparazzi
industry by selling their smartphone-captured
photos...
Image by “Muha”

18. And deflating the
cost by spreading
them freely over the
internet.Image by Eneas De Troya

19. As of April 15, 2013,
“On Instagram alone,
there are 1,159
photos tagged with
– Kate Knibbs
Image by “TimmyGUNZ”
Source: How Social Media has Changed what it means to be a Celebrity
#celebsighting, and
most of them capture
unsuspecting celebrities
doing normal stuff.”

20. “Eventually, people will get immune to social
media driving this instant celebrity, instant
recognition, but for now it’s a novelty.” – Adam
Hanft
Image by Robert Couse-BakerSource: Instant Celebrity: Just Add Social Media

21. A society in which everything is recorded
“will forever tether us to all our past actions,
making it impossible, in practice, to escape
them” – Viktor Mayer-Schönberger
Image by Adam FosterSource: How Social Media can Cost your Job and your Reputatoin

22. Credits
All images are licensed under the
Creative Commons Non-Commercial
Share-Alike 3.0 agreement sourced from
Flickr & Wikipedia Commons