The phrase "internet personality" sounds like an oxymoron.  The typical preconception is of a geeky nerd tapping away in a darkened room, someone who finds it easier to interact with machines than people.  However the internet provides an excellent opportunity for those seeking their Warholian 15 minutes of fame.  It is a democratising medium - anyone with access to a PC can publish details about themselves or their business on the web, and instantly gain a potential audience of millions.  However, this doesn't make it any easier to become famous, rather it is increasingly difficult to make any one site stand out.  Imagine a television with millions of different channels to choose from; as the audience becomes increasingly fragmented, so the fame game becomes more difficult to play. The people highlighted in this article are an eclectic bunch, famous for diverse reasons - from scientific innovation to a simple incomprehension of English grammar.

Tim Berners-Lee, often called "the Father of the World Wide Web", seems an obvious choice to start.  In 1989 he proposed a global hypertext project, designed to allow people to work together remotely.  The initial aim was to facilitate the sharing of particle physics research.  His work resulted in the program "WorldWideWeb" becoming available on the internet in 1991.  Berners-Lee has an academic background and is currently (?) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has worked on various web-related protocols.

Not every dotcom entrepreneur has an instantly recognisable name, so whilst Martha Lane Fox ostensibly owes her fame to her business acumen, being female, blonde and photogenic undoubtedly helped.  In March 2000 the Guardian wrote a self-parodying article, castigating itself for having featured no less than four photos in a recent edition, denying that it saw her as "netty totty" - "but we reluctantly concede that no issue of the paper has yet carried four pictures of Ms Lane Fox's business partner, Brent Hoberman."  Their company lastminute.com gave her an estimated value of £32 million when it floated on the stockmarket.  During the crash share prices fell spectacularly by around £5 from a high of 555p.

James "Kibo" Parry is perhaps best described as an internet phenomenon.  His natural habitat is Usenet, the discussion groups on the internet.  He became famous because of his self-imposed mission to read everything written on these groups which contained his online name "Kibo", and to reply to it.  Kibo's surreal brand of humour attracted its own followers, resulting in the creation of a new discussion group on Usenet dedicated to "kibology".  Kibology is almost impossible to explain and is not really meant to be understood.  Kibo claims to have invented the :-) but then he also claims that "The Berlin Wall fell because Kibo accidentally broke it", "Kibo owns a tuxedo made of real penguin feathers" and similar nonsense.  As one journalist wrote "the oddest of the odd invariably find their way into Kibology like lint to a bellybutton".  Kibo sees this as a compliment.

Constant surveillance sounds like an Orwellian nightmare to many, but to Jennifer Ringley it is her passport to fame.  JenniCam was one of the first webcams when it was set up in 1996, and it has a large following of people interested in following Jennifer's life in 2 minute increments.  "JenniCam is almost entirely unedited and uncensored. Except for camera shy guests and places the cameras can't reach, nothing is cut." 

Mahir Cagri from Turkey, holds the world record for the most-visited personal website with approximately 50,000 page views per day.  His homepage contains pictures of himself in various poses, and personal information in broken English: "I like to take foto-camera (amimals , towns , nice nude models andpeoples).....".  His simple philosophy of using the internet for communication, and making friends all over the world "Who is want to come TURKEY  I can invitate ....." made him the perfect face for advertisers for services such as Smartgroups.com, and Mahir has travelled the world as a result of his fame.  However, his huge popularity is all the result of a practical joke.  A friend translated his website from Turkish into English, and in the process added a few salacious details, a few spelling mistakes…and a cult was born.

Few of these people would be recognised outside the cultural sphere of the internet, yet each has a claim to be termed a "net legend".  This is hardly surprising, given the vast scope of the internet, and its internationalism.  These internet personalities may not be as famous as Britney Spears but the fact that they are known at all is an achievement.