today we praise a 23 year old from Paducah, Kentucky, whose youtube channel currently has over 20,000 subscribers, and whose Denim Edition vlog special has attracted almost a million views in a month.

yes, this entry is in praise of William Sledd; the presenter of youtube’s ‘Ask a Gay Man’ series, who in the world of web 2.0 has become a user-generated celebrity in the blink of a month.

the big question… is he sponsored by his employer?  he wears GAP, he compares GAP and he recommends that if you’re after something you head to the GAP.  are we in lonely girl territory; is this corporate wolf in user-generated sheep’s clothing?  or is the kid from Kentucky who loves fashion, telling it straight, and Sex And The City a genuine brand advocate, whose found fame just by saying it as he sees it?

and does it matter?

well yes it does.  the point of something being user-generated is that its precisely that, its made by kids in Kentucky, or guys in Grantham…  that is its value; its real.  to learn that something’s not, that its the result of a corporate brainstorm, leaves it all a little soul-less.

but that is to take nothing away from the completely-genuinely amazing William, online mega-celeb and fashion hero to the masses, and of whom Davodd of tribe.net sagely notes "Who would have thought some kid out of Padukah, Kentucky could be so right?"  …we agree, and William, we salute you.