what makes a worthwhile performance?

Before even thinking about answering the question of what constitutes a worthwhile performance, the question needs to be asked, what is performance? Until I truly thought about this question I would have answered saying, performance is found in theatre, it is aimed at a specific audience, it’s scripted and controlled. My problem is considering performance as being found in the theatre only, but once I took the idea of performance out of the theatre it opened up a great deal more formats. However, performance can be found anywhere it can be anything from dancing in a club, a web cam entry or a serious monologue on a stage. Even something like a profile page on Facebook or a teacher’s lecture can be considered a performance.
The problem here is that if, so many things are thought of as performance, is there a need to categorise them? Surely a Facebook profile page is not the same as a west end musical. Perhaps then, there could be the category, Personal Performance, referring to individuals uploading personal information and comments on the internet, or dancing seductively in a club. There could be a category of Political Performance, referring to PM’s speeches or the labour party website. Another category could be Entertaining Performance, referring to more traditional theatre performances, clips recorded then put on You Tube. I feel that I needed to categorise types of performance because they are all so completely different. Finally, all of these subcategories (the ones listed above are only suggestions there could be many more) should be split into live performance and mediated performance. There is, I believe, a considerable difference between live and mediated performance and therefore this should be taken into account when trying to categorise performance.
The internet has opened up the opportunities available for people to perform. Plenty of things on the internet are enjoyable and thought provoking however a great deal of it is completely irrelevant in my life. It is a brilliant forum to view things that otherwise would be unavailable, to have a bit of fun or even to advertise yourself. In my personal opinion I enjoy seeing what my friends are up to on Facebook and I occasionally look on You Tube both as an educational resource and for pleasure.
However, what is a worthwhile performance? This is very much open to personal opinion. In one sense, anything that provokes a response or reaction is worthwhile, even if it is just purely entertainment. If the term worthwhile is changed into, ‘what would you pay for?’ it changes the response. For example, I would not pay to look at one of my friends Facebook accounts, and I would not pay to view the sight “Ask a Ninja”. I would pay considerable amounts of money to see a play at the RSC or to buy my favourite bands DVD.
Anything can be a worthwhile performance as long as it is worthwhile to somebody. If you can gain something from someone else’s performance, or even your own then it is valuable. My personal opinion is different from the next persons, but it is individual interpretation that makes something meaningful to one person, and useless to another.