Here’s the minutiae that got me mulling the question: Regular visitors to Digg – and I’m told 20 percent of Network World readers fit the description – know the popular news aggregation site provides lists of the most-Dugg items for the past 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days and 365 days. They’re snapshots of that crowd’s collective wisdom, or, depending on your point of view, lack thereof.
Looking at the 365-day view, and excluding entries that involved Digg itself, the No. 1 most-Dugg item right now over the past year is a story about the death of actor Heath Ledger. It has already received more than 20,000 Diggs in less than a month, more than any story over the past full year involving Paris Hilton, the iPhone, or – how can this be? – even Ron Paul.
I’ve been a journalist 30 years, but you could have given me an unlimited number of attempts and I would not have guessed that this story – of all the stories in all the world over the past 365 days – would top any such list.
The main reason, as you may have surmised, is that because prior to his death on Jan. 22, I had never even heard of Heath (Who?) Ledger, which not only speaks to my disinterest in movies, but helps explain why I found this piece of minutiae so fascinating. How can a story be judged of such great importance by such a sizable audience – Digg draws 12 million visitors a month – if the central figure had never even registered a blip on my radar? (Yes, I’m aware that Digg’s audience skews younger than my 50 years, but …)
Which brings us back to the headline’s question: Who is the most famous person you had never heard of until non-stop coverage of their death smacked you upside the head? I’m looking for actual answers. Doesn’t have to be an actor: Maybe yours was an athlete or politician or supermodel, whatever. I’m not talking about historical figures or obscure Nobel Prize winners, either; I want celebrities. And just because it’s my question I’m arbitrarily insisting that the person was born no later than 1950.
Truth be told, Heath Ledger isn’t my answer; he’s not the most famous person whose existence managed to escape my notice until he himself escaped this mortal coil.
That would be Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain, April 5, 1994. I remember the day clearly because it was just like Elvis had died, only it wasn’t Elvis, it was some scruffy guy I’d never heard of who sang for a band with which I had only a passing familiarity. Had Digg been around in 1994, I’m not sure its servers would have been able to handle the crush of mourning Cobain fans.
So, please share: Who is your Heath Ledger or Kurt Cobain?
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