I’ve been following with some morbid fascination the climb to fame of one Antoine Dodson.

For the uninitiated (or less obsessed fan), Antoine was made famous by a channel 48 news report in the US after they covered the story of an attacker breaking into his sister’s bedroom. Antoine’s account of what happened struck a chord with thousands worldwide and the news clip had soon generated over 20 million views on YouTube.

Antoine’s real ‘fame’ came about shortly afterwards however, when young music producers ‘The Gregory Brothers’ added a music soundtrack to Antoine’s interview. The remixed “Bed Intruder Song” link to generated over 2 million views in under a week and at last look was fast approaching 42 million. It didn’t take the powers that be long to determine that what started as ‘another internet meme’ had the potential to make some serious money and as a result the song has been re-purposed and is now available on iTunes for purchase for around $2 (Antoine and his sister are credited and are no doubt sharing the proceeds).

But it hasn’t stopped there for Antoine.

Earlier this year, Antoine and The Gregory brothers performed the song live at the Black Entertainment TV (BET) awards (the clip itself racking up another 90,000 or so views on YouTube) along with a nice little plug for the track on iTunes.

Most recently however, Antoine has been using his new found fame to plug a new “Sex Offender Tracker” app. While you may question the tastefulness of the pairing, there’s no denying that what started as an innocuous news clip has blossomed into fame and fortune for young Antoine. But for how long?

In 2009, the Australian web was abuzz with the sound of “Chk chk Boom!”, link to the infamous (and false) account of a Kings Cross brawl as recounted by young Claire Werbeloff. The report was watched by thousands, parodied by many, and eventually forgotten by most, but not before it had netted Ms Werbeloff some celebrity appearances (I myself saw her at an industry seminar last year) and a few thousand dollars for some of her clothing sold on eBay.

This year too we have seen the rise of what some might call the “professional viral celebrity” in the form of Isaiah Mustaffah – ‘The Old Spice Man’ (too many links to include here!). Isaiah’s rise to fame has been widely documented, copied and then ‘purchased’ by those original thinkers over at Microsoft who flew him out to Oz to promote their Windows7 mobile platform. Now that the initial hysteria generated by the likes of Koschie et al has died down, the public seems to be turning on Microsoft for the laziness of their technique.

So is this the beginning of the end for the viral video star? Is our regard of what makes someone famous becoming less, or are we simply tiring of the eCeleb?
Or are we so enamored by the possibility that anyone caught on film at the right time in the right place has the potential to make it to fame and fortune that we are prepared to forgive what is fast becoming a tired chain of events?

Either way, I think it speaks to a raising of standards from the viewing public. Now that we’ve seen how little is needed to become famous, perhaps our benchmark for what we revere as true celebrity has been raised. Maybe we are realising (and starting to really appreciate) how attention does not equal talent and therefore true celebrity is earnt and not simply stumbled upon.
Despite contradicting everything about success online, this raising of the bar for standards could be the one good thing to come out of the internet celebrity phenomenon.