Perez Hilton: Anchoring Sunk News
PEREZ HILTON DOESN'T LOOK LIKE a journalist, which is to say that he doesn't look like Dan Rather (or even Ryan Seacrest). Perez is an NYU educated blogger with a taste for celebrity ... and he's been feasting on Hollywood.
Perez has become a reporter of all salacious in the American celebrity world. Nothing else is quite like PerezHilton.com in the U.S., though other bloggers comment on celebrity gossip none has gained the same legitimacy that Perez has. Imagine if The National Enquirer were produced entirely by a single blogger. PerezHilton.com is written (and regularly illustrated) by Perez, his comments and doodles on images of celebrities have become quite popular comics. The site gets 1 million to 1.5 million page views a day. Social media has turned the camera and microphones away from the news anchors of yesteryear, as audience interests shift people start begin to seek new sources of information to satisfy themselves. Perez Hilton is a prime example of someone made famous by social media who would not have gained notoriety, success, or sustained attention through traditional media channels.
It’s funny how we both thought of Perez Hilton! I think he represents (better than anyone else) the Lucky Cinderella effect of social media. Maybe one of the reasons why he has established himself in such a firm matter in the entertainment industry is because he was the first guy to hit it big. Thousands of other blogs have tried to emulate his usually vulgar comments, yet no one has become as prominent in the blogosphere. If I recall correctly, one of the reasons he was considered so outrageous at the beginning (and drew in such large readership) was because he was determined to “out” every gay celebrity in the closet, right? Such taste, such class.
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