Reshuffling the Podcasting Deck
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 26 September 2018
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s If Then, Will Oremus and April Glaser talk about the recent announcement that Instagram’s founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, would be leaving the company - at least in part due to clashes with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the company’s future.
They also discuss tech talks on capitol hill this week between the justice department and federal and state law enforcement on political bias, antitrust, and privacy on social media -- as well as a hearing in the Senate scheduled for Wednesday on how technology companies use and misuse consumer data.
Then, the hosts spend the rest of the podcast talking about...podcasts. The last couple weeks have witnessed some dramatic changes in the podcast industry (including right here at the Slate Group). Last week Buzzfeed axed it’s entire podcast department, a very popular and groundbreaking arm of the media company. Meanwhile, Vox Media did just the opposite, announcing they’d be doubling their podcast output this fall. To help make sense of all this, April and Will are joined by media writer Nick Quah, who pens the weekly newsletter Hot Pod, which is considered required reading for many in the podcast industry.
15:41 - Interview with Nick Quah 34:36 - Don’t Close My Tabs
Don’t Close My Tabs:
okayplayer: The Secret History of Outkast’s ‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below:’ the Last Truly Great Double Album
The New Yorker: How Russia Helped Swing the Election for Trump
The Guardian: ‘Sorry I’m Scuba Diving’” Salesforce CEO Criticized Over Response to Border Contract Backlash
Podcast production by Max Jacobs
If Then plugs:
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.
If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Listen to If Then via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to If Then, the show about how technology is changing our lives and our future. I'm Will Rims. |
| 0:16.9 | And I'm April Glazer. |
| 0:21.5 | Hey, everyone. welcome to If Then. |
| 0:23.4 | We're coming to you from Slate and Future Tense, a partnership between Slate, Arizona State |
| 0:27.5 | University, and New America. |
| 0:29.5 | We're recording this on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 18th. |
| 0:33.3 | On today's show, we'll talk about the recent news that Instagram's founders, Kevin Sistram and Mike Krieger, will be leaving the company. |
| 0:40.8 | And there's some reporting that suggests that's at least in part due to clashes with Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the future direction of the app. |
| 0:49.4 | Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion. |
| 0:53.1 | It sounded like an awful lot of the time, but it's now worth |
| 0:56.7 | an estimated $100 billion. Good investment. We will also discuss tech talks on Capitol Hill this |
| 1:03.5 | week between the Justice Department and federal and state law enforcement on political bias, |
| 1:08.3 | antitrust, and privacy on social media, as well as a hearing in |
| 1:11.7 | the Senate scheduled for Wednesday on how technology companies use and misuse consumer data. |
| 1:17.1 | Plus, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, is headed to D.C. for private talks with Republican lawmakers. |
| 1:23.0 | Then we're going to spend the rest of the podcast talking about, well, podcasts. |
| 1:27.3 | The last couple of weeks have witnessed some dramatic changes in the podcast industry, including right here at our employer, the Slate Group. Last week, BuzzFeed acts its entire podcast department. Meanwhile, Vox Media did just the opposite, saying they're going to be doubling their podcast output this fall. To help us make sense of what's going on in the world of podcasts, will be joined by media writer Nick Kwa, who pens the weekly newsletter Hot Pod. It's |
| 1:49.7 | considered required reading for many in the podcast industry. And lastly, we will have Don't |
| 1:55.0 | Close My Tabs, as we always do, with some of the most interesting stories we found online this |
| 2:00.1 | week. |
| 2:06.4 | Okay, Will, happy Tuesday and happy Wednesday to people who are listening on Wednesday when we drop the podcast. How are you doing? I'm doing fine. Thanks. How are things out there in the East Bay? |
| 2:11.4 | It is a warm fall, as it always is. And also a bit of a shakeup, at least in our circles, because |
... |
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