Define: camwhore

Sunday, June 15th, 2008

Google needs this in their dictionary. Thank goodness, the Urban Dictionary offers several opinions on what it is to be a camwhore (thus, practising the art of camwhoring, or to camwhore).

See: narcissism, media whore

Synonymous with: attention whore

Ref.: Wikipedia:Cam_whore, On whoring oneself

N/B: camwhoring has nothing to do with prostitution. How often have we seen people charging for viewing pictures or videos of themselves? Maybe I’m surfing the wrong sites… but I’m pretty sure its generally free for all to see.

Unless of course, you remember JenniCam (yes kids, the Internet did exist in 1996 :P) Today, iJustine, and Justin.tv call it “lifecasting”. A decade ago, we called it camwhoring. Terminology…

Maybe, Paul McFedries needs to add this to the WordSpy… go read an entry, like one on brand sluts, for instance.

Posted in New Media | 1 Comment »

On whoring oneself

Friday, June 13th, 2008

In what I call a great advertising scheme, Leora Zellman, a blogger, photographer, brand evangelist, etc. is offering her sexy body as ad space.

Her body will cost you on an hourly basis, she’s mostly logo focused, but will also wear schwag, like t-shirts and caps. Buy her back, butt, or chest, they all have varying prices. If athletes do it, why not us regular Joe’s, right?

Well, its not like we all don’t do this. I wear t-shirts with penguins, dolphins, and various other bits all the time. In fact, I haven’t bought a t-shirt in over nine years.

Will this work? Maybe. At a geek conference, every other geek is probably wearing stuff with logos on them. Might be useful for new products? I’ve never actually looked at a t-shirt and thought to myself, “Hmm, I need to check that URL/product out”. Maybe other’s have?

Reminds me of the time Leah Culver sold advertising space on her laptop. Also, on another tangent, Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur spoke about Amanda Congdon using her body to promote her content, Leo basically saying it wasn’t smart. Check out net@night episode 51 for more.

Well Leo, most of the popular blogs in Malaysia, are “photo blogs”, of people “camwhoring”, i.e. showing themselves off in places. Is it sustainable? Maybe not. But will it bring popularity and money in the short term? Probably yes. Some even go on to getting fame ;)

Anyways, enough ranting on this. Best wishes Leora, and to all the other “camwhores” out there.

Posted in Advertising, New Media | 3 Comments »