Kendall Jenner recently broke Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s record for the most “liked” picture on Instagram. Whether this actually qualifies as news to you is irrelevant, believe it or not, because it brings up the idea of what I really want to talk about here: fame on social media.
As a generation who grew up amidst the formation of social networking sites, the concept of social media fame is widely accepted and often not even given a second thought. So let’s think about it now. Social networking sites, as we all know, have not always been around. While initially created in the '90s, they did not start to become universally popular until just a few years ago. Nowadays, people who aren’t found on multiple social media outlets are out of the loop (except for you Grandma, I’ll let this one slide). And with this overwhelming and continually increasing presence on these sites comes the opportunity for fame.
First is the instance where an already-famous person joins social media and immediately attracts followers from fans. A prime example of this is Rob Kardashian’s Instagram account. Clearly, his three million followers are not following him for his remarkable and engaging content—he only has two pictures posted. Of course, some celebrities make use of their social media accounts better than others. Staying within the family and referring back to Kendall Jenner, she clearly knows what she is doing. Since her debut sharing the limelight with her older sisters on their reality series, Keeping up with the Kardashians, she has grown to become quite the celebrity of her own. Her initial fame resides in her presence on television and her growing career as a successful model, but she has also used social media to her advantage by gaining popularity. Her consistent and entertaining posts have allowed her to reach a following of nearly 30 million, and her most popular picture on Instagram breached 2.48 million likes. You may be rolling your eyes at how minuscule the role of social media seems to play, but there is no doubt that her social media fame has helped endorse her career.
This leads me to explore the second instance, where a person starts from scratch and creates a fan-base solely through social networking sites. The terms Youtube-famous, Vine-famous, Insta-famous, Twitter-famous, etc., have all been coined as a result of these newly-explored roads to fame. Some may stumble across these titles unexpectedly. An unplanned, humorous post can instantly go viral and spark immediate fame for whoever was featured in it. On the other hand, others may put forth a brilliant effort to get there. There are cases where people find their own stardom through intentional and regular efforts sharing their talents and personalities online. Some even find opportunities to perform on popular talk shows or perhaps earn an income from what they do. Models, fitness trainers, makeup artists, fashion bloggers, musicians, and entertainers display their content via internet to make a name for themselves. Not everyone would agree that certain people have gained their popularity deservingly, but there is no denying that social media fame is definitely a thing—and they have reached it one way or another.
It’s weird to think that not to long ago, becoming famous online was not even possible. Yet here we are now, and social networking sites have essentially provided everyone with the potential to put themselves out there and see what happens. Who knows, maybe it’s only a matter of time before you’re in the news for breaking Kendall Jenner’s record on Instagram.
