Famous Birthdays wants to be the Wikipedia for Gen Z
Summary
- From mega to micro stars, this is a validation that cannot be paid for
It was envisaged as “Wikipedia for mobile". In 2012, five years after the launch of the iPhone, Evan Britton surmised that most idle browsing would soon be done on small screens. The American entrepreneur also reckoned there was a gap in the market for a simple website that could supply salient facts about celebrities. Mr Britton began writing biographies for megastars such as Tom Hanks under the domain FamousBirthdays.com.
Users, however, were also searching for unfamiliar names: people not on IMDb, a movie database, or Wikipedia. Instead, they had large followings on Instagram, Twitter (now X) or Vine (a defunct short-form video platform). Mr Britton started adding these internet figures to the site, as well as other “missed searches". As a result, the website’s role shifted. Famous Birthdays became an evolving, reactive map of the people who matter to Gen Z.
The website is an observatory for rising stars. The first interview Charli D’Amelio, a TikTok personality, gave was at the Famous Birthdays office in Santa Monica, California, in 2019. Now she has 154m followers on that platform and promotes brands including Dunkin’ Donuts. Being featured on Famous Birthdays is a kind of validation—the sort which, unlike a blue tick on X, cannot be paid for. A few hopefuls try to lobby administrators for a page, but many are turned down.
Famous Birthdays demonstrates the splintered nature of fame in the digital era. Gamers and models you may never have heard of can top the “trending" league table. In a capricious age, it is fascinating to watch a star’s stock rise and fall. Yet the site takes an egalitarian approach, as all entries are roughly the same length. (Inevitably some biographies are more interesting than others.) Brad Pitt is treated with no more reverence than Salish Matter, a 14-year-old YouTuber.
For businesses seeking to conquer the teen market, the site is a handy cheat sheet. Ben Relles, who spent six years commissioning videos for YouTube Originals, used Famous Birthdays as a “go-to source" when scouting for content creators. Famous Birthdays has monetised its service with Famous Birthdays Pro, which offers real-time reports on which social-media stars are generating buzz and allows talent agencies to contact them.
Mr Britton says he is not interested in making money beyond what is needed to keep the company’s lights on. Yet his ambitions are grand: he hopes Famous Birthdays will join Wikipedia as a “pillar of the internet". That is some way off: Wikipedia receives about 4.3bn unique visitors a month, compared with Famous Birthdays’ 20m. This guide to the internet’s budding stars is still an up-and-comer itself.
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