Rex Sorgatz arrived in New York six scant months ago, but he's already got it all figured out. After an advanced anthropological study of Internet Microfame, he's published his initial findings in New York Magazine. In explaining the concept, he also instructs the reader on how to become microfamous in three easy steps! "To persevere in the new age of celebrity, you need to return to the well, repeating these steps of creating, oversharing, and responding." Soon you too can dog-sit for Julia Allison. We are all Tay Zonday, Emily Brill, and the Tron Guy now. [NYM]

Now updated with a video profile of the latter-day Carrie Bradshaw—in French. (Scroll down to end.)

Wikipedia beat everyone else to the news of Tim Russert's death last Friday (see screen capture here: the hive-minded encyclopedia reported the event at 3:01 p.m EST., about a half hour before Drudge linked to a short New York Post announcement). According to the Wikipedia's "revisions," the person who reported this sad event was someone from Internet Broadcasting (IP address: 66.187.200.74), an IT company that has in the past has done work for — wait for it — NBC. Interesting. So instead of calling the inevitable friend at the Times or wherever, a nameless scribbler with a business tie to the network rushed to his or her computer to alert the world of Russert's passing in the least noticeable way. Can Wikipedia even claim credit for the scoop since only stalkers obsessively refresh biographical entries? Obviously, the site can't propagate every newsworthy addendum that's added to its many zillions of pages because there's a) no top-down authority for fact-checking, and b) if there were, the facts would have to be checked against an established news source, totally obviating Wikipedia's claim to be the first on the scene.

Good news for the Associated Press! "In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006," an annual report from the University of Washington reveals. The majority of arrests since 2003 have taken place in Iran, China, and Egypt, though the US of A gets a mention: "The report predicted that the number of blogger arrests in 2008 would exceed the 36 seen in 2007 thanks to greater popularity of blogging as a medium, greater enforcement of net restrictions, and elections in China, Pakistan, Iran and the US." Thats fine, fine company we're in, isn't it? Of course, the reported number could be deceptively low.

TakeBackTheInternet.com

John McCain's campaign store is a treasure trove of hideous merchandise and, briefly, hilarious commentary. The comments on each item were clearly totally unmoderated, which is always a treat. Would you like to buy some John McCain-branded golf balls? How could you not after reading reading reviews like this: "The downside is that these golf balls almost feel like they've been painted over something that was once pasty white and older than one might think. If I press hard enough I think I can feel some scars, but then again it's never a good idea to press too hard on one's balls. Nevertheless, it might be why these balls tend to get stuck in quagmires or sand." There is so much more! At varying levels of maturity and humor!

This is a 100% real banner ad running on the website of the spiritual home of unreconstructed Old Leftists The Nation. It is an obvious, slimy, and desperate attempt to link Barack Obama to nutty Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And it is paid for by John McCain 2008. First we thought this was the stupidest ad buy ever, as if any Nation reader would ever vote for McCain. Then we remembered that The Nation is read by lots of Jews. Then we clicked on "no" and WON A FREE IPOD!! [The Nation]

Jon Friedman, the superlative media columnist for MarketWatch, wants to say just one word to you. Just one word. Are you listening? Web. There's a great future in the web. Just think about it. Friedman himself has embraced this "web," it seems, and now he has a little YouTube thing where he will explain the future of the media to you in one minute or less, every week. If you have never heard or seen Friedman, it is an enlightening experience! For example, now we understand why he doesn't "get" Anderson Cooper. But Friedman's is a reassuring message—that there is room for all of us on this "web," regardless of age, appearance, or ability to craft and present a compelling opinion. (Video after the jump!)

Oh god, Choire actually read the Vanity Fair "oral history of the internet." Why? Why did Vanity Fair take it upon themselves to do this? Mostly so that they could interview self-aggrandizing fools, apparently. DID YOU KNOW that Jann Wenner saw the world's very first "hyper-link"? Seriously, this is what he claims!

Remember when we met Barack Obama's "body man" this morning? The improbably named Reggie Love? Remember how Obama consoled him when "embarrassing pictures of an inebriated Mr. Love from a fraternity house party surfaced on the Internet"? It took like 20 minutes for people to find these photos! They ought to play well with the "drunk frat cracker" demo. Here's one of the incriminating photos. The NSFW one is after the jump.

That New York Times Magazine cover story on the perils of online self-exposure is up online-and itself exposed to a still wider audience of gawkers. Oops, as author Emily Gould might say. There isn't much that hasn't already been discussed on this site or on the newspaper's own discussion board. But there's an adorable new photo. If you can't be bothered to read the text-which has already been blogged, commented and rehashed to the point of absurdity-Daily Intel's statisticians have quantified the narcissism in an easy-to-digest table.

Viacom is-as one might expect-the fiercest US defender of its video content on Youtube. The media conglomerate, broadcaster of shows such as Jon Stewart's Daily Show and The Colbert Report, is suing the web video service's owner, Google, for massive copyright infringement; Viacom has had 352 videos taken down for copyright violations, according to MIT's Youtomb project. The Church of Scientology has used Youtube's takedown provisions to stop critics disseminating and mocking its promotional videos, but Tom Cruise's sect is a relatively modest censor-only 48th on our list.

People often ask what's different about Tumblr, Twitter and the other "web 2.0" tools that are supposed to represent the future of internet publishing. Here's the answer: the eradication of joined-up writing. (via Catbird's Tumblr)

Jeez. Busty Amanda Congdon left her gig hosting internet video time-waster Rocketboom back in 2006? Has it really been so long since anyone's heard from her? Well, you know the story. She moved on to bigger and better things, on proper television. An HBO development deal and a gig with ABC news. Neither went anywhere. ABC had no use for her, and they were also a little peeved that she was doing "freelance commercial work" for DuPont. Her development deal developed nothing. So now she's hooked up with some production studio called Media Rights Capital to make another cheap web video program. Hooray! Did you know Congdon invented being internet-famous, btw?

Andew Krucoff asked Rex Sorgatz which Twitter feeds he should follow. If those names mean something to you, you may already be familiar with this list. (Which is, in Krucoff's words, "a little tech, a little New York, a little media and lots of girls, girls, girls.") If not, here are the Internet Glitteratti's most personal thoughts and dreams, expressed in 140 characters or less. After the jump, the 23 people you Tweet in heaven.

I still don't understand what Web 2.0 is, but the next version is coming and I fear it. I don't want my MacBook getting inside my head-hell, even I don't want to be in there! "[T]he Web 3.0 browser will act like a personal assistant. As you search the Web, the browser learns what you are interested in. The more you use the Web, the more your browser learns about you and the less specific you'll need to be with your questions. Eventually you might be able to ask your browser open questions like 'where should I go for lunch?' Your browser would consult its records of what you like and dislike, take into account your current location and then suggest a list of restaurants."

Intern Mary started a blog! It's brilliant, it's simple: roommate stories! It's called We Share a Toilet and she's seeking submissions. Also, probably, an agent. [We Share a Toilet]

Barack Obama is like Kermit the Frog: Someone else may be your personal favorite, but he's the one that gets the most attention, so he's the one who ends up in all the parodies. Obama can be mashed up with any meme, because anyone can assign him any qualities: like Kermit, his everyman status makes him ripe for satire. To demonstrate, in no particular order but numbered anyway, here are the top twelve memes that have carried Obama to the nomination.

Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd sat down with the kids at the Harvard Political Review and discussed the important issue of "real news" verus "fake news." The debate has raged for years now, and it pits the network evening news against Comedy Central, basically. The New York Times counts as "real news," even though they publish Dowd's column. Dowd, obv, is unworried about this pretend news crisis. Because, she would like to remind you, she invented it! Sort of.

Hey, lazy Reuters hack: there is nothing "top" about the Webbys. Most of the awards-"the Oscars of the Internet" says the wire's Paul Thomasch-are bought by contestants, who are charged application and attendance fees. A few categories are reserved for celebrities who have to be bribed to pick up their statues. But maybe I shouldn't be so dismissive: this scam still generates coverage from wire-service stenographers like you.