Fame is fickle.
That's because people need new stars to worship.
Each generation has its set of politicians, film, and sports stars.
At the next level, there are singers and celebrities.
The business stars who may drive stock markets up and down but are anonymous outside of TV
The Carnatic music singers who shine during the annual festival
The YouTubers with millions of 'followers'
Take the 'guests' on news shows.
Or the judges at reality shows.
They may all aspire to be famous, but end up with varying shades of fame and fortune.
And the realization that fame is hard to sustain and hold on to.
It lasts as long as the shows last. Or the films run. Or when they actively play the sport.
Today, Sunil Gavaskar is best known as a commentator.
Not the world-class batsman he used to be back in the 70s and 80s
For today's generation, he's just another guy on TV.
What about the others on the team?
Faded into old record books to occasionally surface in social media.
Under titles like "What Happened to...?
For a fond moment, that spark of fame returns.
Only to disappear like ripples on the surface of water
Don't make things difficult for digital marketers
Instagram allows only a single link away from the site.
And that was the provocation
The guys running a digital marketing company called Bolster found this frustrating
So they created what looked like a simple workaround called Linktree.
A way to direct audiences to multiple web destinations
Built around the user profile. In essence, giving users much more control.
It's getting nearly 30000 sign-ups a month
A series of links below a profile.
The user determines where the links point to.
The links can be changed whenever necessary, instead of having to navigate websites.
Or hop from one social medium to the next
Selena Gomez, the singer was an early adopter. Her page already gets a billion views
She has links to her songs, her merchandise, promotions and tickets to her concert
And her Instagram link now directs to Linktree
So problem solved. And new business model created.
Red Bull also has a LinkTree profile.
They promote what's current. Tell you what's happening with the brand now.
Where to check out the hot stuff.
It's all built around the mobile.
A single page with links you can change at will.
This is how people will take the web back.
Will algorithms become astrologers?
It's bad enough that algorithms have bundled us into echo chambers, influenced our political beliefs and even narrowed our musical sensibilities.
On TikTok, they're sending streams of tarot readers to you if you express interest.
The algorithm is not predicting your future or computing it.
But it is shuffling the deck and serving up a succession of tarot readers to you.
It's a bit like the fortune cookies in restaurants.
Thousands of lines printed on thin strips of paper
And hopefully, the one on your table will tell you what happens next in your life.
The lines are general enough to fit several contexts
"The fortune you seek is in another cookie"
Or. "You'll be hungry again in 1 hour"
On TikTok, however, it's an elaborate act.
Tarot readers record fortunes and send them out much like dances or other acts on TikTok
If you click on one or stay through the reading, you'll be served more.
The algorithm directs a never-ending stream of tarot readings - the ones crossing your mobile phone path of destiny.
Will they actually predict your future?
Well, did anyone in the world see Covid coming and the world shutting down?
The chances are remote.
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Is fame on your bucket list?