This can lead to a sense of life as an ongoing performance. Megan McCarthy scoffed, “If nobody was watching I think half the people in Web 2.0 would not know what to do with themselves.” People who attract attention without any sense of accomplishment or skill, however, are derided as “famewhores,” which suggests that visibility itself is not enough. Just as Kawasaki distinguished between followers and number of re-tweets, visibility based on merit—achieved status—is what people admire.

Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, loc. 256