KEY POINTS:
If you clicked on online video of Britney Spears being loaded into an ambulance by men in white coats, or searched for the Paris Hilton sex tape, you are not alone.
We live in a celebrity-obsessed age. So much so that there's even a term for it.
Celebrity-worship syndrome was first identified as an addictive disorder in 2003.
There's nothing new about being interested in the movie stars, sporting idols and fabulous nobodies who fill the gossip magazines.
But the internet and, in particular, the emergence of user-generated content like blogs, MySpace and YouTube - generally characterised as Web 2.0 - has taken our curiosity to a new level, says internet search analyser Bill Tancer.
"The internet ... has served as a catalyst for our addiction," he writes in his new book Click: What We Do Online And Why It Matters.
As general manager of global research at the online intelligence organisation Hitwise, Tancer spends his days sifting through data about the clicking habits of 25 million internet users around the world.
Tancer says celebrity sites garnered just 0.1 per cent of all internet hits during 2005 and 2006. But, by 2007, visits to celebrity websites had more than doubled to 0.24 per cent of all searches.
"In terms of Web 2.0, over the past two years we've seen remarkable growth in the popularity of celebrity gossip sites (and) the advent of blogs, and consumer-generated media, has given internet users unprecedented info and minutiae on celebrities' lives," he said.
Celebrity-worship syndrome grew out of the celebrity-worship scale devised by US psychologist Jim Houran in 2003.
The scale, based on research involving 20,000 people, describes the level to which people can become obsessed with celebrities.
The syndrome has three stages, according to Houran.
The first is "a healthy interest (in celebrities) that is a form (of) escapism", but also has a social role because it encourages interaction around the water cooler.
The second phase is addiction. Here, the sufferer can withdraw from reality and begin to find fulfilment in stories about their favourite celebrity rather than social interaction.
The third stage borders on pathological. Obsessive behaviour and celebrity stalkers are found at the extreme end.
Tancer says while celebrity-worship syndrome predates the internet, the proliferation of celebrity gossip sites like PerezHilton.com and TMZ.com, as well as individual blogs, is feeding our compulsive interest.
Dr Marc Brennan, an expert in popular culture from the University of Sydney, says there's "no question that there has been a massive focus on celebrities and celebrity stories" in recent years. But he said so-called celebrity-worship syndrome should be viewed as a movement driven by the availability of information rather than an illness.
Brennan says digital technology has made it easier to create celebrity internet content.
"The digital camera and so on have made people able to capture celebrities a lot more than they used to," he says.
Tancer says one of the sadder things to emerge from his analysis is that celebrity search behaviour reveals a general obsession with the macabre.
The most dramatic spike in celebrity searches came around the death of Anna Nicole Smith, who became the fifth most popular search term of all US searches on the week she was found dead.
A similar spike occurred with the death of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, as well as a similar interest in seeing images of the fatal event or his body.
Tancer says Web 2.0 isn't only feeding an unhealthy obsession with celebrity, it has provided a whole new platform for the creation of celebrities.
Paris Hilton, whose sole claim to fame was inherited wealth, came to global attention with the appearance of her sex tape on the internet. Today, "Paris Hilton sex tape" remains is one of the most popular searches on the internet and Hilton still receives 7.4 per cent of all "sex tape" searches.
Tancer also points to MySpace queen Tila Tequila (aka Tila Nguyen), who rose to stardom on the social networking site before releasing an album and hosting a reality TV show in the US.
Similarly, chart-topping British band the Arctic Monkeys achieved mainstream success via the internet and heralded a sea change in the way new bands were promoted and marketed.
Tancer says the internet continues to expand at a rapid pace, with the amount of information available growing exponentially.
"In my view, the next thing beyond Web 2.0 ... is a technology beyond search that will help us surface the most relevant, meaningful content from this ocean of data."
But, says Brennan, our interest in celebrities is unlikely to go away.
CLICK IN THE HEAD
Celebrity worship syndrome was first recognised as an addictive disorder in 2003. It has three stages:
1. Healthy interest
2. Addiction
3. Obsession
Celebrity website hits have more than doubled in the past five years.
The Paris Hilton sex tape is still one of the most popular searches on the internet.
- AAP
