So, two nights ago I attended a book reading/informal chat between Chuck Klosterman and Rob Sheffield at Coco66.  In response to an audience question about Twitter and social identities, Klosterman addressed how, now that we are all able to see exactly how many people we don’t know are interested in reading about our lives, we tend to assume that we ourselves must be at least a little bit “famous.”

….Which, in turn, leads us to believe that that anybody more famous than we are must be “super famous.”

A little earlier in the discussion, Klosterman mentioned how the internet is making nicknames more commonplace, especially for bloggers.  He cited Fluxblog and Aquarium Drunkard as examples of people more likely to be recognized under their “noms de blog” than under their given names.

At the mention of “Aquarium Drunkard,” a girl standing next to me let out an audible gasp. “Oh my god, no fucking way,” she said to her friend, “I know that guy.  I totally get e-mails from that guy.”  Her friend seemed incredulous. “Omigod, no, I swear I do, hold on, I’ll find them.”  Cue five solid minutes of smartphone fondling, followed by a triumphant tap of the screen.

“SUPER FAMOUS.”