Something big happened over the last few days and none of us noticed. A thousand teenagers, mostly girls, queued for hours outside Eason's on O'Connell St, Dublin for a book launch.
You would be forgiven for thinking One Direction or a Hollywood A-lister was in town - possibly Harper Lee or maybe Roy Keane. But no, it was a young man called Alfie Deyes. And if you are scratching your head wondering who the hell he is, then join the club.
However, it does make me wonder are the traditional media, like myself, struggling to keep up with today's pop culture stars or is social media catching us out again?
Who is Alife Deyes?
Alfie Deyes (pronounced: Days) is a new superstar video blogger, or vlogger, who posts daily videos or a diary on YouTube. He has amassed over four million subscribers to his Pointless Blog channel, with over 240 million views of his videos in total.
The 21-year-old lives in Brighton, UK, with his girlfriend and fellow YouTube sensation Zoe Sugg or Zoella. The couple has two guinea pigs and a pugg. The Guardian described his new book The Pointless Book 2, priced at €12 and a New York Times best seller as "activity sheets given to children in museums and planes to keep them quiet."
However, the paper is kind of missing the point (pardon the pun). Today's vloggers are like the Hollywood stars of yesteryear and they caught us all off guard, as their fame grew online. I spoke to fans of Alfie Deyes who travelled across Ireland to get a glimpse of their hero, the queue was around the block right down Dublin's Middle Abbey Street, for the ticketed event which thousands missed out on.
And security was tight too, following Alfie's recent Waterstones book launch in London, where 8,000 fans turned up to see their idol. In Dublin, there was a Garda presence and the young pop sensation was taken through a secret door, previously used by former US president Bill Clinton ten years ago.
Sound like overkill? Well, his book deal alone is worth hundreds of thousands of euro. There is often product placement in his videos, as advertisers attempt to reach Alfie's young and impressionable audience. And judging by the size of his fan-base, it makes perfect sense to go straight to the source.
I caught up with the superstar during his Dublin trip to talk fans, vlogs and found out the actual point of his latest book...
