He gave up a cushy job in Hawaii and risked his entire life to make the government's surveillance a credible threat to everyone. Not just the people who would listen, but every single person in the world.
I agree, kill your heroes and all, but he's important and he brings up new information every time he's on the news.
And frankly he doesn't deserve the fame, and I don't particularly think he wants it either. But the data he provided (illegally, at continuing risk to himself) opened up a much-needed conversation.
The evidence was there for a while. Most people could not suspend their disbelief long enough to take it seriously.
Although it's obvious Edward Snowden is consciously trying to leverage media (and now social media - his Twitter account is obviously image-conscious) to his advantage in keeping the narrative alive, let's not act like he's actually running things. The linked article seems to be as much advertisement for Snowden-related BBC properties as it is an attempt at maintaining awareness of the subject of Snowden's revelations themselves.