Beth Ann Clyde's interest in celebrity gossip blogs started on June 3, 2007 - the day Paris Hilton reported to Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, Calif.
Last summer, Clyde tuned into the Paris Hilton saga on popular gossip blogs PerezHilton.com and TMZ.com while she was interning at a production company in New York City.
"The day Paris was supposed to go back to jail I sat there for a couple hours waiting to read the verdict online," the junior broadcast journalism major said. "My bosses were even asking for me consistent updates as well."
Clyde's curiosity for celebrities didn't stop there.
Each morning between 9 and 10, Clyde, who is one in upward of six million people who read PerezHilton.com daily, checks her e-mail before navigating her favorite celebrity gossip Web sites for updated story posts. On average, Clyde monitors them two or three times a day for 5 to 10 minutes.
The growth of the Internet has spawned an online community dedicated to analyzing every detail of the private lives of celebrities. For college students who grew up during the rise of the Internet, celebrity gossip sites are one of the most popular places to surf the web.
"I check the blogs more than I check my Facebook page, which is hard to believe," Clyde said. "Getting caught up in Britney posts are hard to stop reading because she's such a train wreck nowadays."
Americans are consumed with celebrity culture, Robert J. Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture, said. However, the Internet has increased the number of venues for celebrity gossip to infinity compared to past decades, making it more difficult for people from all demographics to avoid.
"The idea of a culture delineating certain people that we are all going to pay attention to is an old idea," Thompson said. "The big difference now is that there are so many more outlets to discuss celebrity culture."
Thompson pointed to magazines specializing in entertainment like US Weekly and People along with likes of "Access Hollywood," "Entertainment Tonight" and 24-hour celebrity cable channels that did not exist throughout much of the 20th century. Fans only had a limited number of celebrity resources - until now.
"If you weren't a fan or someone interested in celebrity lifestyles then it was easy to miss," Thompson said. "Now it's impossible because you see it everywhere - at the check out counter, the gas station and on the evening news."
Today, people also have the opportunity to contribute to the celebrity gossip or become citizen paparazzi with the click of their digital camera or cell phone. It's a chance for celeb worshippers to actually involve themselves in the news of their favorite celebrities.
"Most bloggers out there are blogging to themselves, their moms and their best friends while others are doing some original stuff," Thompson said. "But, roughly 99.999 percent of the people blogging about celebrities or 'reporting' are making snarky comments on information they found elsewhere."
Clyde admits she visits Perez Hilton's blog because he uses humor to poke fun at celebrities, while also featuring updates on some of Clyde's favorite celebrities like Nicole Richie.
Newhouse professor Joan Deppa said celebrity gossip also entertains people who lack a community or are searching for a way out of their own problems.
"Britney Spears and her melodrama resonates with people, especially if they are having difficulties in their lives," Deppa said. "It's easy when you have a busy and complicated life to tune out of some of those issues and focus on someone else's."
Celebrity gossip blogs who mock celebrities also have the effect of making people feel better about him or herself by deglamorizing celebrities, Thompson added.
Clyde, however, disagrees with Thompson's opinion even though she enjoys the sarcastic comments scribbled across the celebrity photos at PerezHitlon.com.
"I don't want to see Britney Spears fail," she said. "I would like to see a comeback, but she brings all her melodrama on herself."
Brandon Miller, a magazine, newspaper and online media graduate student, checks PerezHilton.com, TMZ.com and PinkIsTheNewBlog.com on average three to five times a day for five to 10 minutes. He primarily looks for industry news, updates on his favorite celebrities, fashion trends and event pictures while navigating celebrity blog sites.
Despite the time Miller spends on these sites, he also said bloggers sometimes push their wisecracks too far.
"Bloggers shouldn't out celebrities who just had something personal happen to them, attack their sexualities or their children," Miller said. "I don't like reading blogs about celebrities who just had a meltdown or are about to die like Britney Spears or Amy Winehouse because it's just depressing."
On the day of Heath Ledger's death, Clyde was disgusted to find a celebrity blog featuring pictures and posts of his covered body being removed on a gurney because it affected her emotionally.
"Someone's death is not something that needs to be exploited or negatively commented on," Clyde said. "It shouldn't just be about the money shot."
Robin Riley, a professor in the women's studies department who teaches a class titled Gender and Popular Culture, said celebrity blogs are also good procrastination tools from daily responsibilities and reality.
"We choose to look at celebrities and their lives rather the war in Middle East because one makes us feel good, and the other doesn't," Riley said. "Media producers would rather have us look at Britney's antics rather than the war or rising oil prices."
Celebrity gossip blogs also can influence a person's body image, Riley said. TheSkinnyWebsite.com - a celebrity gossip blog dedicated to tracking celebrity weight and diets - attracts on average of 91,800 viewers a day.
"I think one of the issues concerning celebrity blogs is the same kind of standards of beauty that are prevalent in TV, film and popular culture are operating in celebrity gossip blogs," Riley said. "Women are conforming to an ideal that is promulgated in these parts of popular culture."
When asked the reasons for reading celebrity blogs, Clyde said she often uses them to avoid her homework or look for inspiration from the fashions sported by her favorite celebrities. While celebrity blogs are on Clyde's daily priority list, she said she still reads the news and current events.
Most celebrity blogs do not have legitimacy compared to others like The Smoking Gun, which break stories and impact the news, Thompson said.
"The serious journalistic celebrity blogs end up setting the agenda to some extent for other media outlets," he said. "Celebrity gossip bloggers rarely contribute anything new, and it becomes equivalent to barber shop or the beauty parlor banter."
On Thursday, as Deppa sat down to read CNN.com, she noticed this exact phenomenon. The top story, "US officials: CIA kills top al Qaeda terrorist in Pakistan" was featured while "Mom: Britney Rests in LA Hospital" followed ranking as No. 2.
Deppa said the media needs to maintain a focus on celebrities who influence humanity in a positive light. Constant updates on Spears' mental health should not be a top priority for mainstream media.
Senior broadcast journalism major Jaclyn Tyndorf has not made reading celebrity gossip blogs a habit. Instead she watches for celebrities who act for the benefit of humanity and only relies on major news organization her sources for celebrity news.
Brad Pitt's trip to New Orleans to help rebuild communities in one of the city's most impoverished peaked Tyndorf's interest last Decemeber.
"I would consider Brad Pitt's efforts in New Orleans newsworthy," Tyndorf said. "But I would never consider Katie Holmes shopping in Paris with baby Suri as news."
But celebrity gossip blogs are here for the long haul, Thompson said.
"Eventually the for-profit celebrity gossip magazines, television shows and cable networks will reach some kind of saturation point," Thompson said. "But there's no reason blogs will implode because there will always be a new celebrity gossip blog of the month… or the minute."
capetroz@syr.edu
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Celebrity blogs are so in right now. Anyone who's anyone writes one today: Zach Braff, Kanye West, John Mayer, the list goes on. But guys like these are just jumping into the fad. The best celebrity blogs to check out are the under-the-radar folks who've been at it awhile and know how to provide the type of content that pleases anyone with interest in celebrity musings. Here are three to check out:
Anthony Bourdain
http://www.bravotv.com/blog/anthonybourdain/
http://anthony-bourdain-blog.travelchannel.com/
The New York Times best-selling chef is best known for drinking, chain smoking and his roles on the Travel Channel's "No Reservations" and Bravo's "Top Chef." However, if you keep up with his online musings you know his favorite band are punk rockers, The Stooges, he hates both Ryan Seacrest and Rachel Ray, and the most disgusting food he's ever eaten is a Chicken McNugget (coming from someone who once ate goat testicles). At least his online persona is just as outspoken as his television one.
Baron Davis
http://www.yardbarker.com/barondavis
Gilbert Arenas was the athlete blogging darling until an injury slowed him up both on and off the court. However, don't fret. Baron Davis and his glorious beard are here to pick up the slack. The Golden State Warrior guard reviews movies ("Juno" was his pick for 2007), yearns to cook because of Rachel Ray (take that Bourdain, celebrity blog feud!) and frequently gives shout outs to any sports writer that gives him proper credit.
Elyse Sewell
http://elysesewell.livejournal.com/
She was a runner-up on season one of "America's Next Top Model," but it's never stopped the hipster chic beauty from posting like crazy. She provides artsy photos from shoots, commentary on all the various geography she travels to and even uber-personal news (like when she and former boyfriend / The Shins' guitarist Mardy Crandall broke up). She's cute and she takes pictures when she plays with her food. Can you think of a better way to kill time?
Nathan Mattise is The Daily Orange's entertainment columnist. He can be reached at nzmattis@syr.edu
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