Devoted to online marketing, viral marketing, and web marketing

The announcement that actress Stevie Ryan, whose YouTube character, Little Loca, was one of the first to become an online star, will now co-host a new reality series for the CW network called "Online Nation, caused me to wonder why she would want to do that."

The show will be something like “a sort of “America’s Funniest Home Videos," said newteevee, citing Variety. Hosting with Ryan will be Joy Leslie, Link Nealhe and Rhett McLaughlin.

When reading this it reminded me of Amanda Congdon when she left Rocketboom and ended up on ABC in some obscure role she's still in.

Is something like this a wise move for those that make it on the Internet? You can see Amanda on the ABC.com Website, but in what I think is a much less valuable roll than she had with Rocketboom. And with CW, Stevie will probably have less viewers than she did online.

I'm wondering why those that are said to be Internet stars are moving as quickly as they can to attempt to break into traditional media, at a time when traditional media is scrambling to figure out how to be more successful online? Even the major media moguls are all saying digital is where the growth and future is at.

Within a very short time the practical connection between the Internet and TV will be available so video can be consumed in the way we're all accustomed to. What advantage will being on or working for a network have over branding yourself on the Internet?

So why are these Internet stars doing this? I think they aren't really believers or knowledgable about where media is really going. In the case of the two mentioned, it looks like their entire purpose was to become known on the Internet so they could get on or work for traditional media companies.

Is this a surrender to the traditional media forces by online celebrities? Have they been genuine with their audiences? Or are we beginning to see the merging of media in a way that it blurs the difference beteen the two, so stars on the Internet will eventually become stars on television as well?

One thing I do know is many of those that do well on the Internet are starting to draw as much interest and viewers as a number of lower performing network or cable TV shows. If we watch them on a screen, why is it so important on how they reach the screen? Either we do it through a network signal or directly online; either way it's on a screen.

It seems that the lure of Hollywood is still strong, even though so many write and act like it's not. The actions of the first Internet stars reveal we're not quite ready to embrace it in the same way that we've embraced TV. I do think that will change in the not-too-distant future.