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Mark Shea explains the origin, meaning and use of the expression 'cewebrity'. Click below to listen:
Andy Warhol
Cewebrity
The artist Andy Warhol famously said that he thought everybody would be famous for fifteen minutes, and with the increasing power of the internet, that鈥檚 more true today than ever. Anybody with an internet connection and a computer can now become a cewebrity.
A cewebrity is somebody who is only, or perhaps mostly famous through their presence on the internet, an internet personality who crosses over to the mainstream. A web celebrity. A cewebrity.
As people rely on the internet more and more for their entertainment needs, it is becoming increasingly attractive as a platform for new writing, music, film, and art. The writer Stephen King has published books only on the internet and some musicians get a recording contract through the popularity they build up on the web.
Recently an American newspaper, the Seattle PI [Post-Intelligencer] decided to abandon its paper copy and only publish online. As its audience grows, the internet is becoming more powerful in making people famous, and some videos which are posted on the internet become incredibly popular, being seen by millions of people in a short space of time. This is an age where a video of someone dancing and pretending to sing a famous song can get them an appearance on TV shows and magazines. It鈥檚 an age of cewebrity!
About Mark Shea
Mark Shea has been a teacher and teacher trainer for eighteen years. He has taught English and trained teachers extensively in Asia and South America, and is a qualified examiner for the University of Cambridge oral examinations. He is currently working with journalists at the World Service and is the author of the 成人快手 College of Journalism's online English tutor.
