SBU Study: Fame Extends Far Beyond 15 Minutes

"The Situation." The Kardashians. Honey Boo Boo.

Despite common perception, fame lasts much longer than the "15 minutes" typically perceived to be afforded to celebrities.

That's according to one recent study, led by Stony Brook University sociology professor Arnout van de Rijt, titled "Only 15 Minutes? The Social Stratification of Fame in Printed Media."

“The notion that fame is fleeting, particularly in this day and age of democratic newsmaking by everyone for everyone, appears to be a common perception,” said van de Rijt.

“TV shows like ‘American Idol’ and ‘Jersey Shore,’ and people like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian are commonly used as examples of fleeting fame. This study suggests that in fact celebrities, even those whose fame may in the eyes of many, lack a basis of accomplishment, mostly maintain their celebrity status for many years.”

Temporary celebrity status tended to remain fleeting solely in the bottom "tier" of fame hierarchy, gathering fewer mentions in news articles while more popular names build upon themselves, the study shows. Ninety six percent of names mentioned at least 100 times in newspapers had been mentioned at least three years prior as well.

Likewise, some of the most popular names between 2004 and 2009 – Bill Murray, Tommy Lee Jones, John Malkovich and Howard Hughes were among those in the top 10 – had been around for decades.

Read the entire study here.