How to become Internet famous

By John Roach, Special to MSN Tech & Gadgets

For those seeking Internet fame, here's some advice: Don't try.

"It's precisely the people who seem to try too hard or want to prolong their Internet fame for way longer than the Internet is willing to give them that get the most crap ," says Tim Hwang, a research associate at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Hwang is most famous for organizing a conference called ROFLcon in April 2008 that brought together some of the Web's biggest stars for a few days in Cambridge, Mass.. (ROFL is text-message speak for “rolling on the floor, laughing.”)

One Web celeb who didn't make the event is Numa Numa Guy, Gary Brolsma. He became Internet famous in 2004 when he posted a goofy video of himself lip-synching to the song "Dragostea Din Tei" by the Romanian pop group O-Zone to the Web site Newgrounds.com.

Brolsma, who made the video while bored, thought it might make a few people laugh. Instead, it went viral, racking up millions of hits as it spread on the Web like wildfire. Numa Numa Guy even made an episode of Comedy Central's “South Park” alongside animated Web luminaries including Tron Guy, “Star Wars” Kid and Chris Croker – the Leave Britney Alone guy.

"In the time since then, the Numa Numa Guy put up a new site called NewNuma and he's tried really, really hard to prolong his Internet fame, but as a result, no one has paid attention to him, or when they do they kind of make fun of him," Hwang says.

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Really, don't try

Not trying is central to the story of Internet superstar Christian Lander, the comedy writer behind the blog Stuff White People Like, which serves as a nifty, tongue-in-cheek guide to understanding and interacting with upper-middle-class liberal elites. Entries offer insight to the phenomenon of taking a year off and explain why the critically acclaimed, low-rated TV show “The Wire” is so adored.

Lander, a former copywriter and graduate-school dropout, says he started the blog with the expectation that a handful or two of his friends would get a chuckle. They did, and sent the link to friends. Within a few weeks, thousands of people were visiting the site. Within a few months, Lander had landed a book deal, making many white people incredibly envious.

"I didn't think for a second that it would be anywhere near this popular," he says. "My tip for getting Internet fame that I always like to pass on is, 'Don't try.'"

Lander does offer an easier-said-than-done formula for success: Have a great idea, a great title and great execution.

"To do all three of those things requires an awful lot of luck and timing," he notes.

For now, Lander continues to bask in the fleeting spotlight of Internet celebrity, but he says he doesn't expect it to last nor does he hold it in high regard.

"Internet fame, aside from maybe crime fame, is the lowest level of fame you could hope to achieve," he says.

At best, fame might bring the opportunity – as it did for Lander – for career advancement (he quit the copywriting job to become a full-time comedy writer), but few Web stars are able to parlay their stardom into lasting Internet fame like Hollywood gossip columnist Perez Hilton did.

"I think it would be a lot more advantageous to be Internet rich than to be Internet famous," Lander says. "My advice is to wait for that law to get turned over and start an online poker site."