The blogstar effect

I started blogging as a collateral result of my brother’s interest in writing and my friendship with LM. Since I was away from Canada for two years, their blogs kept me up-to-date on what they were doing. The funny thing is that, since I was not in the tech/social media industry I totally missed the boat and therefore, was rarely affected by what I call “the blogstar effect”.

What is the ‘blogstar effect’. Basically, it’s that kind of awe you get from knowing someone who is popular and famous online. I started reading Tanya‘s, Rebecca‘s, Duane’s, John‘s and Derek‘s blogs (just to give a few examples of local blogstars) long ago, but they always seemed very down-to-earth to me, so I never got that kind of “awe”.

I then started hanging out with them and with other local blogging stars (including the lovely Monica Hamburg, Jonathon Narvey, Corinna and Adam Carlson, and still, the whole image of the blogstars never really came to me – these are friends of mine who happen to blog, and who happen to be in social media. But they are also good friends of mine and very down-to-earth people.

However, I giggle quite often when I think of other bloggers in the social media scene and I realize that yes, sometimes I still did get the “blogstar” effect. While with some the blogstar effect never came to exist, with others, I was just like I had met Brad Pitt or Jessica Alba (or Michael Weatherly for that matter, whom I met recently in Yaletown). Examples? I loved Maktaaq‘s blog for a long time, and when I met her, Matt, Ryan and TLO, I was giggling like a high school kid “OMG I can’t believe I’m finally meeting you!“.

I think I get the blogstar effect on a very random basis. But then, when the blogstars and I become friends, I realize that they are just human beings like me with blogging super powers. So, we become part of a siblinghood. I am proud of my blogger friends, and I am honored to be in their company in this Blogathon 2008.

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