The Danger Of Internet Fame

October 8th, 2008 Daryle Dickens Posted in Artist Life |

Have you dreamed of being a famous artist? While your alive? It has been done. And it can be a good way to make a living. This post is part of a series of posts discussing artists and fame. What defines fame for the artist living in 2008? Is fame a good goal? How can an artist become famous? Please join the conversation as we discuss fame for the 21st Century artist.

We have been discussing how an artist can use the Internet and social media tools to gain fans and become famous. This has been a strategy that has worked for painters, photographers, and musicians. But courting fame can be dangerous. It could be possible to earn the wrong kind of attention. Just ask Allison Stokke.

Allison is a pole vaulter. A pretty good one too. In 2004 she won the California state pole vaulting title, has broken five national records, and in her high school vaulting earned her a scholarship to the University of California. And she is Internet Famous. But not because of her achievements or her efforts to become famous.

In the summer of 2007 a popular sports blog posted a simple picture of Ms. Stokke adjusting her hair at a track meet. And that picture sparked a wave of Internet fame stalkers. Her MySpace page suddenly had over 1000 messages and a video interview of her on YouTube had over 200,000 views. And that was just the beginning of the unwanted attention she would receive.

Pole vaulting is not a high profile sport. Not a sport that the media flocks too, especially at the high school level. But mobs of journalists starting showing up at meets Allison was competing in. At first Allison attempted to control the attention but quickly learned that was not possible. All she could do was take measures like never leaving the house alone and have her father, a lawyer, patrol the Internet for potential stalkers.

Major life changes from a single image, and one that Allison did not even post herself. If someone who was not trying to become Internet famous gets this sort of attention those that are being intentional about it should beware. Fame has a price that must be weighed when thinking about using the Internet to broadcast yourself. Every word and every picture you put on the web will be there forever and will be available to anyone and everyone to use how ever they see fit.

Washington Post article on Allison Stokke.
CBS News version of the story.