0

The New Cultural Influencers

Michael Vick. Lindsey Lohan. Paris Hilton. Britney Spears. The jock and prom queens are just some of the celebrities who’ve made headlines in the last month for the wrong reasons. Our society has seen stars rise to great heights like a fireworks display only to watch them come crashing down like a kid on sugar. We build ‘em up just to tear ‘em down. The effect is this- celebrities are no longer the major influencer’s on American culture.

RSSA decade ago Madonna introduced Kaballah to the mainstream and brought a lot of interest in the religion. The Today Show featured her and talked about how she’s become a spiritual role model. Today, Tom Cruise goes on the Today Show, promotes Scientology beliefs, and becomes the laughing stock of America. What does today’s generation do? They just roll their eyes and grab the remote. But they don’t just change the channel; they turn off the television and go online to watch and discuss it on YouTube.

In the 1990’s, Bill Clinton went Hollywood with celebrity endorsements from people like Barbara Streisand giving him more star appeal resulting in more voters. Today, the last thing Hilary Clinton wants is a Barbara Streisand endorsement because this generation would just roll their eyes, go online, and spread their support on their blog for Barack Obama, Fred Thompson, or online darling, Ron Paul.

Nine years ago, Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa were making baseball history and captivating the nation with their chase for the single-season homerun record. Today, Barry Bonds is about to break Hank Aaron’s all-time career homerun record and most of American sports fans could care less. Instead, they are just rolling their eyes, going online, and reading about the latest doping scandal in sports on del.icio.us

If celebrities aren’t the major influencer’s in our culture today- then who are? I think Time Magazine got it right. It’s you. Yep, you. Did you know you were Time’s “Man of the Year” last year? YOU are the driving cultural influencers of today. All thanks to Web 2.0

Did you know that if MySpace were a country it would be the sixth largest country in the world? Did you know that Facebook has over 30 million active members ? Did you know Technorati has reported that there are over 50 million blogs online? Did you know that YouTube visitors watch over 100 million videos a day? And these numbers are not declining. They’re exploding. Meanwhile Hollywood is imploding.

For years the entertainment industry and mainstream media were the primary shapers of society. Today, the paradigm has shifted thanks to all the blog-writing, social-networking, wiki-sharing, podcasting, open-source collaborators of the world.

What an exciting time to live! I love the fact that I can connect and get to know people from all over the world. All because of YOU and the innovators who helped create the new internet.

Who would have thought the geeks would become more influential (and cooler) than the jocks and the prom queens?

Blogged with Flock

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tweet This!

Comments are closed.

placeholder