text: Whose Virtual Stock Has Gone Up This Week? 
   
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   The Dow is up for the third day in a row. Hurrah! But rather than bore you with talk of retail returns, we thought we'd take a look at something much more fun. Whose personal stock, literally and figuratively, got a boost this week? Here at PopEater, we are obsessed with the ups and downs of fame. And these days, there are so many ways folks can use fame and celebrity to increase their value in the media marketplace. Whether it was sponsoring a beauty pageant for Tiger Woods' mistresses, hopping on Conan's Twitter bandwagon or the unfortunate passing of a close friend, here are the folks who increased their value on the fame industrial average this week. The Dow is up for the third day in a row. Hurrah! But rather than bore you with talk of retail returns, we thought we'd take a look at something much more fun. Whose personal stock, literally and figuratively, got a boost this week? Here at PopEater, we are obsessed with the ups and downs of fame. And these days, there are so many ways folks can use fame and celebrity to increase their value in the media marketplace. Whether it was sponsoring a beauty pageant for Tiger Woods' mistresses, hopping on Conan's Twitter bandwagon or the unfortunate passing of a close friend, here are the folks who increased their value on the fame industrial average this week. 
   
   -- If you hadn't heard of AshleyMadison before this week, you probably know their name now. They're a Web site designed for people looking to have an affair. In a fit of branding genius, they put up the $100,000 prize for Howard Stern's Miss Mistress Pageant this week, and according to founder Noel Biderman that investment has translated into "millions of dollars of free advertising." Comparing the 55 days prior to the announcement that AshleyMadison would be sponsoring the pageant and the 55 days following the announcement, those crazy number crunchers at AshleyMadison estimate they have realized a 22% increase in revenue and a 27% increase in site membership. Thank you Tiger, yet again you've contributed to the weakening of the marital union.-- Let's call this one the Six Degrees of Conan O'Brien. We have all heard the story of Sarah Killen, whose life has been forever made more awesome by Conan O'Brien's decision to make her the one person he follows on Twitter. Prior to Conan shaking up her life, Killen had been struggling to figure out how to pay for her wedding. Those worries are now out the window -- she has been gifted with the wedding of her dreams, as sponsors have hopped on the Conan bandwagon and offered Killen free rings, wine, shoes and the most important of all wedding day items, the dress. Enter NYC dressmaker Kelima K, who has given Sarah a dress in return for Sarah promoting their favorite charity, The Children's Hunger Fund. The kids win and now Kelima K has become one of this season's most sought after dressmakers. Not bad for three degrees of Conan separation.-- Is it too soon to bring this up? Probably. The death of Corey Haim is a tragedy. He was taken from us much too soon. The two Coreys have been close since puberty -- when they both experienced the roller coaster ride of making it big young and flaming out early. Feldman is the obvious celebrity choice to publicly mourn and remember Haim, but it bears mentioning that no one has paid this much attention to Feldman since his twenties. Now, everyone's been clamoring for a sit-down with Feldman. He gave the first to Larry King, telling the talk show host that Haim had died destitute and couldn't even afford to own a car. Not exactly the kind of glowing eulogy you'd want to hear from your best friend. So Feldman's stock has gone up this week due to unhappy circumstances. Now, we just have to wait and see if he continues to try to capitalize. ||||| Exclusive: Student shocked by fame over Twitter link to Kanye West 
   
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   A TEENAGER catapulted to fame by megastar rapper Kanye West has spoken exclusively to the Coventry Telegraph about his bizarre moment in the spotlight. 
   
   Despite having nearly 400,000 followers on social networking website Twitter, American A-list celebrity West is following only one – 19-year-old Steve Holmes of Eastern Green. 
   
   West, an award-winning rapper and hip-hop producer, mysteriously selected Steve before sending him a message reading: “You are the chosen one. Dun dun dun.” 
   
   On Twitter, people who “follow” you – whether friends or strangers – can see updates you leave on your account, and if you follow them back you can exchange messages. 
   
   But since gaining the star’s seal of approval on Saturday night, student Steve has been inundated with admiring, jealous and strange messages from fans, journalists and wannabe celebrities across the globe. 
   
   He told the Coventry Telegraph: “I just commented on something on Kanye West’s account and next thing I know he’s following me. 
   
   “I was like, “Oh my God!”, but about 20 seconds later I had 20 messages from people I didn’t even know and my phone wouldn’t stop bleeping.” 
   
   In two hours Steve’s followers rocketed from 60 to more than 1,000. 
   
   To try and get some peace Steve deleted the Twitter application from his iPhone, but it hasn’t stopped people worldwide trying to track him down through other social networking sites, like Facebook. ||||| When Conan O’Brien randomly started following Sarah Killen’s Twitter page (@LovelyButton) she got nearly 19,000 followers, a new iMac, a free wedding gown, gratis wedding rings, $2,600 in donations for her cancer walk, and the chance to meet Ludacris. In return, Sarah is inviting Conan to her wedding. “My fiance wants Conan to be his best man,” she said. “That would be really cool. And hey, if he wants us to come on his show, we’d get married on there. That would be fantastic.” Guess she’s not that big of a fan if she hasn’t heard that there isn’t a show anymore? [Gawker] 
   
   Twitter has done some crazy things to our world. Nerds have become popular and we know more about strangers than our closest friends thanks to the constant updates of their mundane thoughts. And it’s also set the celebrity world a bit topsy-turvy. Here are just a few of those who’ve been plucked from obscurity and thrust into Twitter greatness.
target: – The random woman Conan O’Brien decided to follow on Twitter got a new computer, donations to her cancer walk, and the wedding of her dreams. The random guy Kanye West decided to follow on Twitter just got…annoyed. “Before this weekend I thought it would be cool to have a celebrity following me on Twitter but now I think it’s really not worth it,” 19-year-old Steve Holmes tells the Coventry Telegraph. “It’s crazy. I’m getting messages from people I don’t even know.” His followers jumped from 60 to more than 6,000 and his iPhone “wouldn’t stop bleeping,” so he deleted the Twitter application from it. “A guy wanted me to look at his film trailer and people have been sending me links to their music demos—as if I have some sort of influence over Kanye West,” Holmes says. He’s turned down interviews with outlets including the BBC and CNN, and recently tweeted that he won’t be speaking to any more press.