When Andy Warhol's tedious "Empire" was first screened in 1964, many critics were shocked by the film. For eight hours nothing appeared on screen but a shot of the Empire State Building from dusk to dawn. Some critics laughed and declared the work a vulgar and outrageous challenge to traditional cinema. But later, after his famous Marilyn Monroe prints had won acceptance, it became a signature of Warhol's explorations in the fields of art.

Warhol's success could be seen as a triumphal achievement of print and TV media in some sense because his representative works, such as "Campbell's Soup Can" and "Coke", were inspired by these two kinds of media and were also promoted by them. As time passed, Warhol's bold and once-radical inventions became fashionable, and then dated. He predicted this fast-changing trend in 1968: "In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes," he said in New York City. The trend which helped him to his great success is still at work today.

"In modern society, fads have become a natural part of life. They have become an indispensable part of the way people live. The only characteristic of fads is that they are fast-changing and relentless," said Gu Jun, the chief of the Sociology Department of Shanghai University. He pointed out that fads drive people to seek every conceivable kind of novelty. After people become fed up with stereotypical beauty idols, which Warhol once mocked in his works on Hollywood stars, an idolization of alternative celebrities arises. In the United States in 2003, William Hung became an idol almost overnight. His fans built websites to support him and even sent e-mails demanding: "send American Idol William Hung to Hollywood".

In China similar celebrities rush into everyone's life with the help of the Internet. From Muzimei, who posted her sex experiences on her blog, to "Sister Furong (lotus)" who bombards people with her photos and diary - considered a bit narcissistic by many net surfers - people discuss the new "stars" with zeal and exchange information about them on the Internet. Like Warhol, who once was popular in the print media and TV, they gain their popularity on the Internet and then draw added attention from the more traditional media.

"It's not strange that they can become so popular on the Internet. Compared with the traditional media, the Internet is more tolerant and free. It's an open space for almost everyone. It possesses advantages over both TV and the print media. It meets all the requirements for driving fashion. Moreover, I think the most important reason for the accessibility of the Internet is that the cost is much lower than access to other media," Gu said.

It's true that getting logged on has become relatively cheap.

Media role

Zhao Shilin, author of "On Internet Communication" and a teacher at the School of Film Arts and Technology of Shanghai University, holds the same opinion. "The threshold for entering cyberspace is relatively low for most people," he said.

But the low cost of logging on is not the only reason for the popularity of the Internet. Zhao considers the Internet an effective way for people to receive information.

"Now, in a society in which limited information is the norm, the Internet is a good way for many people to gather information. They will pay great attention to the information they gather from the Internet," Zhao said.

This is also an age in which people stress their individual subjectivities, Gu suggested. "People try to express their own individuality in many ways. The Internet is a good platform for people to be themselves. The relationship between these alternative celebrities and the Internet is close, to their mutual benefit. The celebrities take advantage of the Internet, but they are also taken advantage of by the Internet, to draw more attention to it," Gu said.

The implications of the Internet for traditional media are profound.

"The Internet is a space where people can carry out more interactive tasks. Net surfers have much more sense of participation. They often immerse themselves in it and show extra fervour compared to their dealings with traditional media," Zhao said. "At first, the Internet is only the ignition for news. But the snowball effect gets more and more traditional media involved. When almost all media outlets are involved, we can assume it will change some aspects of our society. As one of the cornerstones of society's structure, the media plays an important role in the development of society."

Propelled by the Internet and other media, increasing numbers of people are engaged in discussing the impact of these celebrities and the role the media should play in social life.

"We should treat them with more tolerance because diversity has become a global tendency. Society always worries about new individual actions, so public order and taboos appear to prohibit people from doing certain kinds of things. These celebrities' deeds may seem to be unacceptable for certain groups of people, but if they free themselves from public order and its associated taboos, they will find such things need not be condemned," said Gu.

Gu recalled that not many years ago, kissing in public was considered taboo for most Chinese. "But with the influence of the media, Chinese are now willing to do this even more than foreigners," he said. "Public order and taboos strive to maintain the current society, but society evolves constantly."

Is it time for us to predict what these celebrities and the Internet will bring to us? According to Zhao, the answer is no.

"It will take at least 20 years to see how society will be changed by the Internet, because the history of the Internet in Chinese lives is still short - it's no more than nine or 10 years. Only after a generation of people are brought up with the Internet and become the backbone of our society can we conclude what the Internet has brought for us," he said.