Nerve Endings Firing Away

Celebrities have always been the top searches ever since the Internet ‘went public.’ Stuff that earlier you wanted to know or see but couldn’t ask or look for overtly now was easily available at your fingertips. Lycos 50 tracks the people, places, and things that Internet users search for over the past week. Celebrity searches for Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra, Jessica Alba, Britney Spears have been popular ever since such tracking began. In fact, Pamela Anderson has managed to appear in the Lycos 50 list ever since the list (1995) began making her the top searched celebrity. It is interesting to see how implants, stolen sex tapes, botched marriages, and few ridiculous yet popular TV shows can affect a celebrity’s status in an industry where any kind of publicity is welcome.

Of course, considering the public’s short-term memory for gossip, you must expect celebrities that have been around for a while to figure in this list, right? Well, Quick Online Tips notices that now-ousted American Idol contestant Antonella Barba has been on the Lycos 50 for four weeks now and already has a Lycos50 Elite Star which is kinda strange because that status is usually reserved for searches that have been on the list for more than 50 weeks. This is significant because in the entertainment industry, generating buzz is a huge positive factor irrespective of the nature of the buzz i.e. positive or negative. Publicists in Hollywood are now well versed in the art of honing celebrity statuses and keep their clients in the limelight. Paris Hilton is probably the biggest example. In spite of hardly doing anything that can be considered worthwhile, she is one of the most talked about celebrities today. You may hate her passionately but simply cannot ignore her picture on the magazine cover in the checkout aisle.

But Antonella’s entry in this so-called elite list might be a harbinger of things to come. As you might have heard, she gained notoriety for having her semi-naked pictures (some fake) splashed across the media while she was still on American Idol. She was the earlier pinup girl for the folks at Vote For the Worst. Now Sanjaya Malakar is generating similar buzz (even on this blog) and getting mentioned not only on blogs and YouTube videos but also in prominent mainstream media outlets like the BBC and NY Times. This certainly means that whenever he is voted off the show, he will have a line of publicity agents waiting to tap his buzz potential. On a sidenote, Shyamali, Sanjaya’s sister has gradually emerged as a celebrity [at least online] in her own right probably due to the ‘hot’ factor which was further enhanced by her appearance in the American Idol audience last week.

Would this lead to wannabe publicity seekers to audition for American Idol (or other popular reality shows) not to win it all but just to get noticed and talked about so that they can have a somewhat decent entertainment career? Perhaps this has always been their intent except it is becoming more apparent now. And sites like Vote for the Worst are more than willing to help make a fool of yourself in front of millions while laughing your way to millions. Like they say, you never know what the public wants or will like. People earn their livelihoods trying to understand that question and yet make money even if they are completely off the mark. Now that’s a perfect career for those who want to earn big even if they are doing it all wrong.

PS. If you are wondering why isn’t Sanjaya already in the top 50, take a look at Google Trend’s comparison figures with Antonella Barba. The poor kid no matter how cute his female fans think he is, is no match for a naked chick. Technorati WTF has him at #3 [as of 04/05/07, 16:00 CST] though.