Famegame.com - Tracking Influential New Yorkers

Fame Game may sound like a trashy obsession, but this social web of influential New Yorkers actually has an intellectual base. It is tracking the “fame” of about 100,000 New York City residents and 2,500 organizations, which the founders claim represents the cultural economy of NYC. Indeed, the site does not discriminate between business owners, socialites, journalists, or architects- only the amount of attention they receive in the media. Fame Game could be described as a reverse social network- only once a person is listed in a media outlet and included on the site can that individual request to join. In this way, emerging artists, business leaders, or actors can work to gain more public attention and individuals take the role that publicists traditionally fill.

“The data represents the networks of capital, influence, and attention that drive NY’s cultural economy. Providing universal access to that information, and making the sharing/usage of it social and participatory and relevant to a broader range of cultural participants may facilitate new connections between people, new ideas in culture, more party invitations and real world socialization, and a livelier public-cultural space.”

Fame Game represents a fascinating intellectual take on the culture’s celebrity obsession. For influential New Yorkers it is an interesting map of an exclusive social network, and for those aspiring to be a part of this space, a potential catalyst to break through. Plus, it has an air of exclusivity that immediately translates as "cool."

Will Fame Game better define its objectives? It lists esoteric rhetoric about celebrity culture, but the site needs to fine-tune its purpose to be successful. There are a lot of interesting and excellent ideas floating around, but at the moment it rather overwhelming.