Terri Senft, in her book Camgirls: Celebrity and Community in the Age of Social Networks, defines micro-celebrity as “a new style of online performance in which people employ webcams, video, audio, blogs, and social networking sites to ‘amp up’ their popularity among readers, viewers, and those to whom they are linked online.” Celebrity has traditionally been viewed as something someone is, based on how well known he or she is; micro-celebrity, by contrast, is something someone does. Regardless of one’s actual audience, micro-celebrity is a way of thinking of oneself as a celebrity, and treating others accordingly. Micro-celebrity practitioners, be they professional video gamers, wannabe pop stars, YouTube beauty bloggers, or political activists, strategically construct their presentation to appeal to others. The people they interact with online are thought of as fans, rather than friends or strangers, and these relationships are carefully maintained to sustain popularity. The mindset and practices of micro-celebrity are made possible by social media technologies, which enable average people to gain the audiences of traditional celebrities.

Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, loc. 274