Although networks like Instagram and even Flickr are lamented by so-called 'pro' photographers, many are finding ways to leverage such networks to enhance their portfolio and earn new followers. In short, you don't need to have an HD-quality photo presented on a 500px webpage to earn respect from fellow photogs; indeed anyone who knows photography can tell you it's the image composition that matters, not the medium or resolution. Or even the subject.

The problem with professional photographers is that the traditional networks that they participate in are insular, only catering to other fellow professionals. While that may serve a purpose i.e. accredited feedback from one's peers, it does nothing to enhance their wider, public appeal.

Anyone who knows photography can tell you it's the image composition that matters, not the medium or resolution.

In theory, most photographers want their creations viewed by as many people as possible and even though the masses on Instagram may be less discerning, ahem, it can still open doors for national recognition. Of course, you still have to leverage that recognition into some form of money, because acclaim can't pay the bills.

Like all social networks, everyone starts out equal. Someone who is very new yet talented has the same chance to make their mark based on the merits of their work as a twenty-year veteran in the field. That social leveling is an enticing prospect for aspiring creators.

In the end, photographers should drop their bias against mobile photography and embrace the social network model. They don't need to surrender their professional networks, but if they care about getting more recognition (and presumably more opportunity to showcase their work), then they will take to the Instagrams, Imgurs, and Flickrs of the world.

What you have to say is important, if for no other reason that it's important to you. But maybe, just maybe, it'll be important to someone else as well. You'll start building a following. And one by one, maybe you'll become "Internet famous." That is to say, folks you've never met — and perhaps will never meet — will come to "know" you. They'll start to care about who you are and what you have to say.

You're now "Internet famous."

How famous is that? On one hand, it's a quantifiable number. You can look at your reach and follower counts and put some sort of net worth on your newfound fame. If you're doing well enough, that's exactly what potential advertisers will do.

It's important to remember that despite how far the Internet reaches, it's still a bubble.

But it's also important to remember that despite how far the Internet reaches — which is pretty much everywhere, right? — it's still a bubble. A big bubble, sure, but also a uniquely personal bubble. Think of the most "Internet famous" person you can. Then go ask your friends and family — outside of your personal Internet bubble — if they've ever heard of that person. Chances are you'll see the bubble's effects. "But, but … it's CrackBerry Kevin! How can you not know him?" Easy: it's the bubble.

That's not to say that what's in the bubble isn't important, interesting, or entertaining. And anyone who's the least bit "Internet famous" — and the least bit truthful — will tell you that it's fun to be recognized. It's fun to see yourself on the screen. There's a bit of narcissism in all of us.

But it's just as important, interesting and entertaining — more so, maybe — to remember that there's life outside of the "Internet famous" bubble. Be sure to visit every now and then.

Being the subject of watercooler chatter will make you feel awesome, but self esteem won't put a roof over your head.

But if your internet fame isn't of the fleeting type, and you think it's the sort of thing you'd like to do for a living, that can be arranged. You'll just have to sign on some advertisers.

Look, I get it, advertising's not great. You didn't get internet famous by shilling for Gillette or Purina, but you'd also be incredibly lucky if you made enough off of your YouTube views and Google AdSense banners on your blog to make a decent living.

Advertising is what makes the internet go 'round, and when it's done right it isn't the worst thing in the world. Try a sponsorship, or maybe go tongue-in-cheek.

It's either that or get a real job. Ewww.

If you made a sex tape, if you ruined a relationship, if you made an intolerant diatribe, if you ruined a reputation, if your words or deeds set the world aflame, then maybe you'll be subjected to anger, vilification, and infamy. But even then, attention follows. Boy or girl makes good. Everyone loves a redemption story. Almost as much as the fall from grace.

From the Star Wars Kid to Chocolate Rain to any of a bevy of mistresses and boy toys, from acts of bullying to acts of heroism to any of a million acts of simple, gross spectacle, accidental online fame has consequences terrific and terrible, and seldom is it completely one or the other.

Accidental online fame has consequences terrific and terrible, and seldom is it completely one or the other.

Mostly, it's fleeting. Today's meme, shared and ridiculed, gives way to tomorrow's, and feeds the endless appetite of a depraved social media business and lecherous society in equal parts. Careers could be made, lives could be ruined, and the next day again the same as the last.

In generations past your glories and your shames were private, your scandals and victories known perhaps only to a small town, your affairs, even if your office was the highest in the land, were but the barest of winks and whispers.

Now everything is broadcast. Everything is everywhere. Everyone is everywhere. Consequences that you and you alone faced, or just your family, or just your town, are now played out across the internet.

Every action no longer has an equal and opposite reaction. It has the potential for billions of them.

Once something is on the internet, you're no longer a person. You become an entity.

Georgia / Host, ZEN & TECH