What is a country in the cowsphere?
A country in the cowsphere is a country with a well-developed "lolcow" community. Basically lolcows are eccentric figures that make fools out of themselves on the internet and are the objects of amusement by the rest of the community. The lolcow community will be referred to as the "cowsphere" in this forum. Is the cowsphere the same as the celebritysphere (the celebrity community)? No. It is not though they will intersect frequently.
But before we make the case of whether a country is in the cowsphere we need to know what the difference is between a celebrity and a lolcow.
Celebrities (at least top tier celebrities) are usually characterized by the following benchmarks
1. The person in question makes a living like a celebrity (acting, personal appearances, a spokesperson, media appearances such as television shows, businesses such as clothing or makeup promoting their brand.
2. The person has a very large following (fanbase) like a celebrity.
3. The person is regularly followed in celebrity media (television shows or tabloids) like a celebrity.
4. The person's fame is not confined to a niche area of the internet but is well known across the internet.
5. The person has a reduced expectation of privacy like a celebrity because he/she has reached a certain unwritten status in the public eye like a celebrity.
People who are strictly lolcows (not in the celebritysphere) may have a celebrity like following but will always fall short of the celebrity characteristics listed above. It is possible however for someone to be both in the celebritysphere and the cowsphere which naturally asks the question: How can you tell the difference between a celebrity figure with lolcow characteristics and a cowsphere figure with celebrity characteristics? Basically if the person's fame is independent of his/her lolcowery, you have a celebrity. On the other hand if the person's fame is dependent on his/her lolcowery, you have someone strictly in the cowsphere.
Now the Next Big Topic of Consideration: How the heck does this relate to whether a country is in the cowsphere or not? Excellent question.
As a general rule we have to take a look at the country in question and ask if the political and social environment is conducive to the growth of a cowsphere community. At the bare minimum:
1. A cowsphere community by its nature has to have a certain degree of autonomy or freedom from control by the government or other entities.
2. The country in question has to have a certain degree of tolerance for people who spill their spaghetti (air their personal problems or personal drama in public on the internet).
3. The drama is genuine, not staged.
Other factors that come into play are: The country's size by population, as well as the celebrity scene of the country in question.
Having said this, let's start with a classification system
Country (Cowsphere): A country with a cowsphere culture that can develop freely within the public figure sphere. This would include countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Brazil, and India.
Country(Non-Cowsphere): A country that does not have a cowsphere culture within the public figure sphere. Countries such as Djibouti or Mozambique would fall into this category. Morocco would also fall into this category since the "milk" gravitates around classical celebrity gossip, not lolcow gossip.
Country (False-Cowsphere): An country that gives the appearance of a cowsphere country but it actually isn’t. North Korea is a classic example that of a country that falls into this category. While the "milk" from this country can be highly entertaining, it is totally political: Statements by Kim Jong Un the country's leader. There is no autonomous lolcow community on YouTube because access to the internet is tightly controlled and available only to those trusted high-ranking elite. Even in the case of the North Korea social media stars on the internet, this content is tightly regulated and controlled by the state.
A country in the cowsphere is a country with a well-developed "lolcow" community. Basically lolcows are eccentric figures that make fools out of themselves on the internet and are the objects of amusement by the rest of the community. The lolcow community will be referred to as the "cowsphere" in this forum. Is the cowsphere the same as the celebritysphere (the celebrity community)? No. It is not though they will intersect frequently.
But before we make the case of whether a country is in the cowsphere we need to know what the difference is between a celebrity and a lolcow.
Celebrities (at least top tier celebrities) are usually characterized by the following benchmarks
1. The person in question makes a living like a celebrity (acting, personal appearances, a spokesperson, media appearances such as television shows, businesses such as clothing or makeup promoting their brand.
2. The person has a very large following (fanbase) like a celebrity.
3. The person is regularly followed in celebrity media (television shows or tabloids) like a celebrity.
4. The person's fame is not confined to a niche area of the internet but is well known across the internet.
5. The person has a reduced expectation of privacy like a celebrity because he/she has reached a certain unwritten status in the public eye like a celebrity.
People who are strictly lolcows (not in the celebritysphere) may have a celebrity like following but will always fall short of the celebrity characteristics listed above. It is possible however for someone to be both in the celebritysphere and the cowsphere which naturally asks the question: How can you tell the difference between a celebrity figure with lolcow characteristics and a cowsphere figure with celebrity characteristics? Basically if the person's fame is independent of his/her lolcowery, you have a celebrity. On the other hand if the person's fame is dependent on his/her lolcowery, you have someone strictly in the cowsphere.
Now the Next Big Topic of Consideration: How the heck does this relate to whether a country is in the cowsphere or not? Excellent question.
As a general rule we have to take a look at the country in question and ask if the political and social environment is conducive to the growth of a cowsphere community. At the bare minimum:
1. A cowsphere community by its nature has to have a certain degree of autonomy or freedom from control by the government or other entities.
2. The country in question has to have a certain degree of tolerance for people who spill their spaghetti (air their personal problems or personal drama in public on the internet).
3. The drama is genuine, not staged.
Other factors that come into play are: The country's size by population, as well as the celebrity scene of the country in question.
Having said this, let's start with a classification system
Country (Cowsphere): A country with a cowsphere culture that can develop freely within the public figure sphere. This would include countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Brazil, and India.
Country(Non-Cowsphere): A country that does not have a cowsphere culture within the public figure sphere. Countries such as Djibouti or Mozambique would fall into this category. Morocco would also fall into this category since the "milk" gravitates around classical celebrity gossip, not lolcow gossip.
Country (False-Cowsphere): An country that gives the appearance of a cowsphere country but it actually isn’t. North Korea is a classic example that of a country that falls into this category. While the "milk" from this country can be highly entertaining, it is totally political: Statements by Kim Jong Un the country's leader. There is no autonomous lolcow community on YouTube because access to the internet is tightly controlled and available only to those trusted high-ranking elite. Even in the case of the North Korea social media stars on the internet, this content is tightly regulated and controlled by the state.
