How YouTube's Tumultuous Past Will Shape Its Future
Uncanny Valley | WIRED
WIRED
4.1 • 571 Ratings
🗓️ 1 September 2022
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Collectively, people stream more than a billion hours of video on YouTube every single day. That's a lot of eyeballs, and it means the platform has enormous influence. In its twisty-turny path from dwarfish startup to internet colossus, YouTube has launched the careers of creatives, and hosted a host of misinformation and conspiracy theories. It has been a source of joy and entertainment, and also sparked real-world tragedies.
This week on Gadget Lab, we talk with journalist and author Mark Bergen about his new book, which is all about the video-streaming platform and its path to cultural domination.
Show Notes
Mark Bergen’s new book, Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube’s Chaotic Rise to World Domination is out September 6.
Recommendations
Mark recommends the YouTube channel of Bill Wurtz. Lauren recommends the book Normal Family by Chrysta Bilton. Mike recommends the climate newsletter “One5C” by Joe Brown.
Mark Bergen can be found on Twitter @mhbergen. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@booneashworth). Our theme music is by Solar Keys.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Lauren. |
| 0:01.0 | Mike. |
| 0:02.0 | Lauren, do you remember the first video that you ever uploaded to YouTube? |
| 0:05.0 | I don't remember the exact video, but I want to say it was probably a really crappy short film. |
| 0:10.0 | Oh, okay. |
| 0:11.0 | I was a member of this Brooklyn group of filmmakers for a while, and we were uploading our shorts to YouTube. |
| 0:18.0 | Yeah, they weren't very good. I I mean mine wasn't very good other people |
| 0:21.4 | probably made great stuff is it still there because I absolutely need to see this uh maybe it's |
| 0:25.9 | private also I'll find something to send to you how about you do you remember the first video |
| 0:29.5 | you uploaded oh yeah it's of my cat yeah which cat poppy oh the one who's still alive |
| 0:34.7 | poppy has lived as long as YouTube. |
| 0:39.0 | She has. |
| 0:39.8 | Wow. |
| 0:40.2 | YouTube's had quite the history. |
| 0:41.7 | We're going to talk all about it. |
| 0:42.8 | Let's do it. |
| 0:48.0 | Hi, everyone. |
| 0:51.0 | Welcome to Gadget Lab. |
| 0:52.0 | I am Michael Collori. |
| 0:53.3 | I'm a senior editor at Wired. And I'm Collori. I'm a senior editor at Wired. |
| 0:54.8 | And I'm Lauren Good. I'm a senior writer at Wired. |
| 0:57.0 | We're also joined this week by Bloomberg reporter and author Mark Bergen. Hello, Mark. |
... |
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