According to an estimate by social psychologist Orville G. Brim, some four million Americans admit to having an intense desire to become famous. Children’s media researcher Yalda Uhls also found that in 2007, fame was the No. 1 value communicated to preteen TV audiences. This growing fascination with celebrity culture presents a market opportunity for public relations specialists. It also helps explain why the employment market for PR professionals is expected to grow at a faster-than-average rate between now and 2020.

Scholars like Mathieu Deflem at the University of South Carolina are helping to pioneer an area of academic specialty centered on the questions of fame and celebrity. Dr. Deflem’s most popular course focuses on the fame of Lady Gaga. As more people aspire for fame online, in the arts, in sports and through television programming, the public relations community will grow even more.

But just what is fame in the first place? Strictly speaking, the words “fame” and “celebrity” don’t mean the same thing. Fame deals with how a person’s name and accomplishments are esteemed and remembered by others over time. It’s not a black-or-white state of being.

Celebrity, on the other hand, has to do with the widespread recognition of a person’s name and face that comes from mass-media coverage. It’s possible to be well known and well respected (hence famous in some sense) without ever attracting the kind of media coverage necessary to propel an individual into the celebrity category. It’s also possible to become a celebrity by getting the attention of a large audience without doing anything of special merit to “earn” that fame. Such overnight celebrities emerge in a world chock-full of digital media, reality TV programming and social media.

Researchers are probing the question of permanence. Is today’s fame really just the fleeting, 15-minute phenomenon that artist Andy Warhol described everyone would experience, or is it something more enduring?

This question matters when considering an individual’s name brand online. A brand is associated with value, especially when considering associating a brand with solving a pain point in the marketplace or offering sales through consumer interest. In a media-saturated world where it’s apparently easier than ever to enter the public eye, is fame becoming less significant and more transient than in the past? Not according to some of the most recent findings on this topic.

Challenging common assumptions, an article recently published in the American Sociological Review describes how being part of the public conversation for long enough causes a person’s name to lock in and become a relatively permanent fixture. The business implication of this is that reality television stars, Internet stars and other locked-in celebrities who seemingly offer arbitrary monetary value may offer significant endorsement power for your product or service.

For all the questions that remain on the subject, one certainty exists: Celebrity culture is a mainstay, and it’s growing. As long as the public continues to demand a never-ending string of celebrity icons to adore, there will continue to be a viable market for those who know how to provide them.

This creates an opportunity for those interested in participating in the celebrity economy to offer tailored services. It’s also a growing market for product placement and brand association with specific demographic targeting. Overall, demystifying the mechanics of fame ought to be a top interest for anyone aiming to make a lasting impact on the emerging marketplace of celebrity followership.

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