Long story short, I was on the treadmill, sweating, at a new gym when a famous reality show star got on elliptical machine behind me.   It's a small gym, so a couple of the trainers say hi to the star and one begins training with them.   I suddenly worry what I look like, all sweaty and floppy on the treadmill. I adjust my ponytail. And then I remember --- I don't actually care what the star thinks about me. I've got no need to make a good impression on them.   I get back to my sweaty running and then begin boxing with a trainer.

I've worked enough around celebrities--political or the actual rock star variety--to know that celebrity is much more a product of your "brand" than of you.   Living, breathing people are famous, and they've got staff whose jobs depend on their boss staying famous. They promote, call the paparazzi at the right time, and make sure the celebrity lands their next gig. Meanwhile, all sorts of media outlets distribute celebrity information to the rest of us. This is the celebrity machine--and everyone from Brittany Spears, to Lululemon, to Ruby on Rails, to the Race for the Cure is in it.

And now you, and I, and our organizations are in it, too.

Sure, we may not have "people" but we don't need them. We are our own celebrity-makers via the easy social media tools which rolled out over the last few years.   You post your "status," your news feed is distributed through five different social networking sites and Twitter, your travel plans are announced to every social and business connection you've gathered. You've got 3,256 followers... somewhere.   And the unspoken hope many of us have is that through social media fame, our business--even our nonprofit--will gain street cred and even actual clients or donors.  

Soon, all you can think about is "I should post this!" or "Oh my God, I should've posted that!"   You pale when a friend says, "Why aren't you on (insert new social media tool here)??" because it means you've failed to reach an audience that could support your business.   Increasingly, you spend more time worrying about what your next 140 character line will say than what your bottom line is.

I'm going to make an assertion here you're probably not going to like:   I believe we're all becoming compulsive, technology-enabled celebrity addicts.   We don't need your success to be determined   by how good our service, mission, or product is. Who cares if our family or community members respect and trust us when thousands of followers confirm our social status?   We are who they think we are, and we've learned the many ways we can "game" the social media status system so others have a better opinion of us.

Just as public opinion turned against mainstream media and generations of consumers stopped believing TV commercials, I think we're on the precipice of a social media backlash; followers are just fans with more technology--- and fans are fleeting.   We could keep trying to appeal to others as social media celebrities, or, we could just accept our sweaty, imperfect selves and get on with reaching our goals.  

I'm not advocating abandoning social media--far from it--but I think we all need to take a deep breath and review if we're using social media to share and collaborate, or just for the celebrity factor.   Movements, real change, lasting relationships---those all come from deep social connections and friendships---and what we need during tough times like these are people who'll stick with us because they love and respect us.   Friends, not fans, build lasting social change---and they'll support you even when you're just plain human.

Sarah Schacht is Executive Director of Knowledge As Power, a 501c3 which builds online services to help citizens become informed and effective in the legislative process.   She tweets as a "real person" @SarahSchacht her work tweets are @KasPower.