Trends are very trendy right now. In an effort to develop a couple of short features for the blog, I’ve settled on a regular post exploring what I recognize to be emerging trends in network identity, digitization, globalization and the other themes that inform this blog.

So here’s the first entry in that series: Microcelebrity

The notion of microcelebrity was first spelled out years ago by Clive Thompson at Wired. In his words, Microcelebrity is “the phenomenon of being extremely well known not to millions but to a small group.” In its first iteration, it was mostly linked to personalities that used the web to build a toehold in the discourse of popular culture, and was typically fodder for blogs and some unscrupulous print rags.

Now, however, I see the notion of microcelebrity taking root. There is the obvious reference to Twitter power-users getting increasing visibility as content concierges, but I am more interested of late in the use of microcelebs in marketing and promotional campaigns online because it suggests to me that businesses see real potential to profit through these strategies. Here are three recent examples to illustrate the trend:

1. Carl’s Jr. recently launched a campaign employing YouTube microcelebs to promote their new $6 Portobello Burger.

2. Ford’s Fiesta Movement campaign to promote the new product line employs 100 ‘Agents of the Fiesta Movement’ to blog, vlog and otherwise share their experience with the car.

3. JetBlue is trying to build buzz for their new service to LAX from JFK and BOS with a planeload of social media microcelebs who will create and upload content during the inaugural journey.

While these are only a couple examples, industry watchers do believe that social media spending will continue to grow while display ads decline. This may be a happy medium for now between direct connection with individual customers (which has had some messy consequences before) and the lofty and unreachable heights of ‘proper’ celebrities who are more picky about endorsement deals. You can expect more campaigns of this type in the future.