In the roaring Twitter age, the importance of a party can be measured in the number of #hashtag descriptions of it. And how many #hashtag-described parties you attend is the measure of your star power on the Internet.*

In this columnist’s opinion, being a star on the Internet is the only star worth being. 

I feel compelled to celebrate Internet celebrity (cewebrity?) this week because of two #hashtag-worthy sets of parties: away, the South By Southwest Interactive soirees in Austin, Texas (#sxswi); here in Toronto, the Fashion Week jams (#LGFW).

I also want to defend the concept after an annoying anti-South By Southwest Interactive rant filled up the space of a post on the blog Valleywag this week. It assails the “frivolity” of such ceweb-filled parties during a recession (pffft!) and questions whether innovation can arise from such formal Web congregations.

Needless to say, I disagree. But first, the boldfaces:

Austin, of course, is where the cream of the Internet is gathering, including Kevin Rose, a co-founder of Digg; Dennis Crowley, a former Google-ite who runs Foursquare; and Julia Allison, a columnist for Time Out New York and an Internet celebrity.

In Toronto, our local fashion Twitterati will line both sides of the catwalk for Fashion Week. Some notables here include I Want – I Got blogger Anita Clarke, girl-about-everywhere-slash-blogger Sarah Nicole Prickett, the National Post’s Nathalie Atkinson, and of course NOW’s own Andrew Sardone, who has a regular style blog every Wednesday and every day this week on NOW Daily.

I care more about both groups of Internet celebrities than I do about those from the mainstream film and music industries.

To distinguish yourself on the Internet is one of the few remaining true tests of talent. There’s no industry push or right-place, right-time chance online; unlike every other sort, Internet fame rewards innovation. You have to have new ideas all the time. If you can’t keep up, your bright light fades.

Say what you will about the talent or lack thereof possessed by Allison, but she uses a side scroll on her site (a fresh approach, if not entirely novel). 

The ultimate appeal of Internet celebrity, though, is its ability to inspire. No matter how big the cewebrity or the parties she attends, the maxim stays the same: think up a good idea, put it online and there’s a high probability you’ll be Internet famous, too. 

*For the unenlightened, #hashtags are a method of tagging a Twitter post so all same-category Tweets file onto the same screen.