CNN on Internet fame: Is 15 fans enough?

CNN.com's Anne Hammock has a piece, now getting attention on Digg, that opens:

"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."

It's probably not fair to be too snarky. After all, Hammock is trying to bring a new idea to a broad audience. There's no doubt that celebrity is changing as more online "communities" form — tech, fashion, food, film, etc. — each with its own leaders and personalities.

But 15 people?

Hammock ends by quoting David Weinberger of the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society:

"Fame is becoming ours; we are making it ours, as we are doing so much else in our culture. Fame now reflects us."

The problem with this kind of theorizing is that if we're all famous (most of us do, after all, have 15 people who will listen to our rantings), then no one's famous.

The Internet makes communications of all kinds easier: one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-many, etc. But it's not clear to me that the old definition of fame is changing much at all.  If anything, the Britneys and Parises and Judge Abduls of the world are hogging more of the spotlight.

It seems to me there's some muddling of terms going on. To be truly famous, you need to have a lot of people know who you are. Otherwise, isn't it just popularity?

(Photo by Flickr user dreamsjung)