Youtube, Twitter continue to blur lines between celebrities and citizens ~ The weekly rewind

Three marines in recent weeks have posted YouTube videos demanding Hollywood's hottest back up their patriotic claims by sacrificing a night of walking the red carpet to accompany them to the marine Corps Ball.

I sense a trend here.

Cpl. Kelsey de Santis extended an invitation to the Nov. 12 Washington D.C. event to NSYNC star Justin Timberlake in late July. Flanked by fellow Marines who appear cross-armed and stony-faced throughout the 15-second blip, de Santis told the star if he was too busy to come he should just “Cry [her] a river,” a clever reference to an infamous song from the singer-turned-actor’s solo career.

And it seems the intimidation worked. A humbled Timberlake on Saturday accepted the one time cage fighter’s invitation.

Timberlake told CNN that he was not going “because she shouted one of my songs, which I love” but because “I don’t ever get asked out ever, so I was a very flattered by that.”

I find that hard to believe.

The Huffington Post reported Sunday that Sgt. Ray Lewis has also used a video camera to set up a date with Oscar’s Betty White. It is not known whether she has accepted his invite.

This comes just days after Timberlake’s “Friends with Benefits” co-star Mila Kunis announced she would attend the Marine Corps Ball in Greenville, North Carolina with Sgt. Scott Moore, after his invitation to her was broadcast across one of the most visited sites on the net.

All I have to say is this: Why haven’t more people thought to do this before?

While I admit those serving our country have a bit of an advantage when it comes to asking out their favorite star (guilt trip, much?), web sites and devices like YouTube and Twitter have for a long time been identified as a platform on which regular citizens could connect with the country’s elite.

Just the other day, distraught that my early morning routine of listening to the Roula and Ryan show was interrupted while the radio stars went to a convention, I tweeted them demanding answers.

I was surprised when I got a response.

And that’s just the beginning. The following is just a small collection of ordinary people just like you and I who rocketed (literally) to fame (and fortune) after their activities on Twitter and YouTube were picked up by the mainstream media. (In no particular order…)

1. Justin Beiber look alike Greyson Chance was first discovered by the comedian Ellen Degeneres when she featured a video his classmates filmed of him singing Lady Gaga’s hit “ Paparazzi.”

The video received more than 40 million views, and Chance went on to score a record contract. His first single “Waiting Outside the Lines” has sold more than 160,000 copies to date. He will also turn 14-years old soon.

2. When Stefanie Gordon boarded a plane in New York City to visit her parents she never expected she’d field calls from news outlets from around the world as soon as her plane touched down in Palm Beach, Florida.

Gordon’s claim to fame is how she snapped and shot a short video of the space shuttle Endeavour’s last launch. She then tweeted it to her 1,800 Twitter followers.

“I don’t have that many Twitter followers, and I basically tweet about sports,” Gordon told Mashable. “I really didn’t expect it to go as viral as it did.”

An optimistic Gordon then provided her LinkedIn profile to her many followers in the hopes of landing a job. There is currently no word on whether luck struck the same person twice.

3. Sohaib Athar was the first person to report the U.S. Navy Seal’s raid against Osama Bin Laden’s compound in the Middle East. And he wasn’t a journalist. The regular Joe beat the Associated Press, CNN and many others when he used Twitter to complain about helicopters hovering above him in the city of Abbottabad at 1 a.m. May 5.

Question: If you could call out any celebrity or public figure, who would it be? Do you think they would reply? Me? I'm still waiting on a response from you, Joe Manganiello!