In case you were on the fence after the 2008 election about the Internet's ability to effect real world change, the trajectory of former Golden Girl Betty White should be enough to sway you. Becoming something of a web celebrity (which included a successful Facebook campaign to have the 88-year-old host Saturday Night Live) has done wonders for White's career, including turning what was supposed to be a cameo on a new sitcom, Hot in Cleveland, into a serial character's role.
Since Conan O'Brien started his Twitter account over a week ago, he's quickly become one of the most popular users on the site, as fans took to the only outlet they can still get their daily CoCo fix from. But though Conan's followers may have been numerous, the talk show host was following no one himself. That is, until yesterday's #followfriday, when a teen named Sarah Killen (Twitter handle: LovelyButton) won the real-life equivalent of Willy Wonka's Golden ticket by being randomly selected as Conan's first Followee. Now she's gone from 3 followers to over 11,000 in less than 24 hours.
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Does mourning in the digital age make a loss any less devastating? That's the question, asked by Newsweek's Lisa Miller in the magazine's March 1st issue. While it may seem trite, ridiculous, and frankly even a little insulting to try to express your pain and grief over a loved one's passing in 140 characters or less on Twitter, the rise of social networking has also allowed us to grieve as a global community, not just individuals alone in suffering.