«MORE THAN ANYTHING PEOPLE JUST WANT STARS»

Urban theorist and famed author of The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida, refutes Anderson's position saying that rumours of the death of celebrity due to digital media's saturation Hollywood coverage are much exaggerated. While the proliferation of celebrity sites may have redefined our conception of celebrity, Florida reminds us that "with every new technology - from the rise of film, recorded music, talking pictures, transistor radios, FM radio, cable TV, and now the digital revolution - experts have predicted the death of celebrity. But each advance has generated celebrities bigger than the past. New technologies, as the work of German economist Peter Tschmuck has shown, open up new distribution channels and new markets that give birth to ever bigger stars." Far from burying celebrity, Florida predicts the rise of the super-celebrity: an interent-enabled mega-star of unprecedented global reach.

-Sydney Morning Herald
Nov 26 2009