What's a microcelebrity? No, not a teeny tiny version of Tom Cruise or Angelina Jolie.

As Clive Thompson describes it, microcelebrity is "the phenomenon of being extremely well known not to millions but to a small group -- a thousand people, or maybe only a few dozen."

And microcelebrity is distinct from traditional celebrity in that

Traditional celebrity relies on distance and separation from one's spectators, but as Justin Hall's famous quip, "In the future, everyone will be famous to fifteen people" indicates, micro-celebrity depends on closeness and accountability.

Yesterday, Nora hosted a panel discussion on the phenomenon of microcelebrity. Her guests were:

• Theresa Senft, a Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at the University of East London in the U.K., the author of CAMGIRLS: Webcams, LiveJournals and the Personal as Political in the Age of the Global Brand. She coined the term "microcelebrity."
• Sarah Meyers, a Manhattan-based video journalist and the host of Pop17, a show about microcelebrity.
• Merlin Mann, the founding editor of 43Folders.com. He's a writer, speaker, broadcaster, and bona-fide microcelebrity.

An abbreviated version of this panel will air on an upcoming episode of Spark, but you can listen to the whole thing now, just download the MP3.