Forbes ’ Meghan Casserly takes a dip into the tween universe to explain why Sydney Dalton is a trending topic on Twitter: It’s because Dalton had the audacity to say that she was over teeny-bopper sensation Justin Bieber, and put up a YouTube video where she ripped up a bunch of his posters. As a result, true “Beliebers” have declared war on Dalton: They’re trashing her on multiple platforms. This is predictable, as Bieber’s fans are some of the most frenzied around . What’s surprising is the affect of the girl in the Dalton-hating video that Casserly places at the bottom of her post on the trend:
She appears to be 12 or 13 and is eerily composed. She sounds like your average Real Housewife in the confessional booth, recapping some drama that has already occurred. She explains fairly calmly why she hates Dalton so much and threatens her with minor violence-all the while making sure to promote her other projects (videos, Twitter), just as the Housewives smack talk each other ( and occasionally resort to violence ) while also promoting their new books or lines of margarita mix . “Like I said in my Justin Bieber obsession video, I don’t care if you hate Justin Bieber … you just don’t post it on YouTube.” Right before that, she gives a shout-out to one of her followers, whom she also follows: “Love you @AERObelieber!” She wants us to know that she’s not a bad person, and she’s not evil- she just doesn’t like Sydney Dalton. She’s always aware of her audience, and pays attention to her image and her branding.
Her fixation with her Internet presence is clear from her other videos-in this one she talks plainly about her need for more subscribers to her YouTube channel and about wanting more page views. She says that she will even take a shaving-cream pie in the face for more views, because she is that dedicated to microfame. She has already posted a second video about the Sydney Dalton kerfuffle , semi-retracting her hate for Sydney. “I don’t hate her, I’m just really disappointed that she chose to rip up the posters like that,” she explains. Then she thanks other commenters for their support-but not before getting in another plug for her Twitter feed (“I’m on Twitter daily!”). Reality casting agents, take note.
