Meet Jakob Lodwick.

Lodwick is founder of CollegeHumor, Vimeo and BustedTees. He also maintains a very popular blog.

His entrepreneurship and visionary thinking have led to his success, establishing him as a prominent figure in the Web 2.0 community. His eccentric behavior is also well publicized.

What Lodwick represents, however, is a trend of Internet celebrities that are appearing and disappearing overnight, though in his case, his popularity seems to be established and maintained.

We are all aware of the Internet celebrities that perform odd dances, go on hysteric rants about Britney Spears or simply hurt and humiliate themselves for our entertainment. Lodwick, however, must be categorized into a new cross-section of celebrity: the Fameball.

What distinguishes the Fameball from other Internet celebrities is their continued fame, their cult-like following but most importantly, their shameless self-promotion. Essentially, Lodwick argues that no one can promote him like he can himself. Though he seems to be throwing humility and modesty out the window, he makes a good point (to a certain extent). And it seems to be working, Lodwick is still around while other Internet celebrities have come and gone.

What does this all mean?

The Internet, as a powerful form of media, is turning average people into celebrities, albeit, usually for a brief period of time unless, of course, you’ve attained the privileged level of Fameball. While fame was generally reserved for the icons of film, television and music in the past, the Internet is enabling Joe Sixpacks to make it big via their blogs, YouTube videos, etc. It seems everyone is getting their 15 minutes, nowadays. But what does this say about the type of person who is seeking Internet fame? Well, surely, a lack of attention must be to blame. Shameless self-promotion is a surefire way to solve that problem. Lodwick has mastered that art.

Below, a moderately modest interview with Lodwick. I’ll let you be the judge.