Internet Stars Find an Audience in Social Media - Tool Kit

The following is an excerpt from an article in:


The New York Times
Thursday, September 27, 2012

Internet Stars Find an Audience in Social Media - Tool Kit

By STEVEN LECKART

Social media have made it easier than ever to catapult from obscurity to prominence. In recent years, the Web has blossomed into a more egalitarian version of “American Idol,” where nobodies compete for attention alongside somebodies.

Today, a teenager posting webcam videos to YouTube can get a movie deal (“Fred: The Movie”). A 30-something posting one-liners on Twitter can land a TV show on CBS (“$#*! My Dad Says”). Bloggers creating Internet memes are being offered book deals at a dizzying pace.

However, alongside breakout Web celebs — not to mention actual celebrities with huge online followings like Rihanna and Katy Perry — there’s a new class of microstars who are highly popular and viral, but have no aspirations of going Hollywood.

How they became Internet-famous — and made comfortable incomes — offers insights to those who are unsure of how to use Twitter, Instagram or Tumblr to promote themselves or their projects.

THE CELLPHONE QUIPSTER Like many teenagers, Joey Mueller, 19, spends much of his time texting on his iPhone. But when he taps out a 140-character message and presses send, he’s talking to nearly 400,000 people.

Mr. Mueller created his Twitter account, @itisjoey, in 2010. as he was traveling to compete at the World Horseshoe Tournament in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He figured using Twitter to comment from a big event might help him draw an audience.

“I didn’t get any followers or anything,” he recalls, “I guess it wasn’t interesting.”

Now a sophomore majoring in graphic design at the University of Minnesota, he decided to avoid personal messages and focus on observational humor. A sample @itisjoey post: “Nancy Grace is the human equivalent of caps lock.”

Mr. Mueller said his personal Tumblr Web site already had 75,000 followers. He added a link to his Twitter account. Immediately, his follower count jumped. Then a curious thing happened: the numbers kept climbing. In 2012, he hit 440,000.

“I’m not sure why,” he said. “Sometimes I think I got lucky.”

Mr. Mueller said he had never purchased followers. He said that posting from noon to 6 p.m., when people typically spend more time online, helps. He also routinely adopts popular hashtags, especially political ones, which he said helped get him retweeted by organizations including Move On. The fame hasn’t gone to his head, he said, or at least his parents keep him down to earth.

“They’re like, ‘You know, you’re not really famous. Stay in school.’ ”

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