Edwards poses for his numerous Twitter followers, who are smitten by his Justin Bieber-like good looks.

by Ellen Kirkness ’12

Lady GaGa has 13,515,266, Barack Obama has 10,080,687, Daniel Tosh has 3,392,389 and Wiz Khalifa has 2,950,588. Followers on Twitter, that is. Next to each of their names, a small blue check appears. This check verifies, for the sake of the follower, that the tweeting celebrity that a follower wishes to monitor is indeed that person rather than an imposter. However, when someone who is not internationally recognized for artistic, athletic or political fame, has almost 9,000 followers, should Twitter verify that too?

Sophomore Jake Edwards has 8,451 followers, a number which seems slight next to that of the president of the United States of America, yet huge compared to an average Sherwood student who has anywhere from five to 400 followers . He was once verified due to the unreal number of fake accounts that were made by frauds under his name. However, Twitter has since discovered that Edwards is, in fact, just a teenager from Olney, Maryland with no claim to fame.

“I have never been called a superstar. I am just an average guy,” said Edwards.

Still, the lack of real-world renown surely does not stop the endless number of teenage girls from making videos for him on YouTube for his birthday. The mystery lies in social networking’s ability to boost one from average status to nearly celebrity persona.

Edwards’ story begins in 2008 when a friend introduces him to an internet chat service called “Tinychat.” Tinychat is a service that allows individuals to communicate with strangers through video chat. However, the aspect of this website which separates it from other video chatting services is that chat rooms are separated by category or topic.

The vital moment occurs with an accidental click. Intending on entering a chat room for sports fanatics, Edwards clicks on a link which he assumes will get him there. Right then and there a teen superstar is born.

The link that Edwards, only a naïve seventh grader at the time, actually clicked on brought him to a chat room full of young girls, ages 10-14. Resulting from his perfectly combed chestnut hair and his winning smile, Edwards was immediately mistaken for a Justin Bieber look-alike and the result was unprecedented. Immediately girls from all over the world were encouraging him to start Tweeting and friend requests on Facebook began rolling in. Heeding to his new friends, Edwards made an account on Twitter. That night, he had gained almost one thousand followers.

Coming to terms with his new image, Edwards decided to create his own “Ustream” account. This website is used primarily by celebrities and political candidates to answer the questions of their supporters and promote a positive public image.

Since the creation of the “Ustream” account, Edwards has attained the kind of “fame” that could never have been achieved ten years ago. Today, he receives around 130 friend requests a day on Facebook, and in addition, a fan page exists on Facebook, created by an unknown enthusiast, with over 2,000 likes. The internet has allowed Edwards to gain an international fan base, stretching from Texas to Germany.

“I was in sixth grade and he had a fan page with like 6,000 likes. Everyone thinks he is great,” said freshman follower Emma Nichols.

“He’s just a teen superstar. He’s handsome, smooth, and the guilty pleasure of every teenage girl all over the world,” said big-time fan, senior Alexandra Stephanos.