How often do you find yourself watching videos on YouTube? Ever wonder about the history of this popular platform? If so, Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube’s Chaotic Rise to World Domination by Mark Bergen is the book to read. Bergen takes readers from the idea born by Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim and Steve Chen as they sought to create an internet business in 2005 through 2020 when 500 hours of footage were uploaded every minute.
The book describes the cultural clashes of the startup with Google, which acquired YouTube in 2006, and recounts how some of the platform’s most recognizable features took shape. Perhaps most compelling are the descriptions that help a reader grasp the “struggle” for these tech platforms — balancing the goal of making money with corporate responsibility. While some of this is presented in general discussions about how the platform worked to control objectionable content over time, Bergen deftly presents specific examples through well-known incidents and creators (YouTube’s moniker for those who post). For example, Bergen introduces PewDiePie, YouTube’s “biggest star” with about 100 million subscribers. Between 2012 and 2019, viewers watched more than 130 billion minutes of PewDiePie’s videos. Because every dollar spent in ads on YouTube results in 45 cents for YouTube and 55 cents for the creator, YouTube made about $32 million from this single creator’s efforts during that period. However, after starting out streaming himself playing video games, over time, PewDiePie shifted to “meta-commentary on the patent absurdity of the internet” (p. 274). As a result of his commentary and videos, including posts with anti-Semitic and anti-Black comments, he became associated with fascist, neo-Nazi and alt-right views. Bergen describes YouTube’s silence in 2017, when an article in The Wall Street Journal about “the unsettling oddity of neo-Nazis endorsing a celebrity on the payrolls of Google and Disney” (p. 278) was published. He goes on to describe what was happening behind the scenes at YouTube and how a month later unwanted attention to Fortune 500 company ads appearing on questionable content caused companies to stop ad purchases in the name of “brand safety.” As creator income decreased, YouTube found themselves stuck between angry advertisers and angrier creators — while at the mercy of algorithms it could not control (p. 287).
Speaking of algorithms, Bergen also addresses online safety for children, specifically describing how “bad actors” worked around YouTube algorithms to get pedophilic or harmful content in front of children, such as by combining children’s characters with adult themes. The author also outlines the approaches YouTube took over time as they attempted to maintain safe spaces for child viewers. While not a major theme, Bergen also touches on children featured as stars on YouTube channels.
Find out more or get the book:
How often do you find yourself watching videos on YouTube? Ever wonder about the history of this popular platform? If so, Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube’s Chaotic Rise to World Domination by Mark Bergen is the book to read. Bergen takes readers from the idea born by Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim and Steve Chen as they sought to create an internet business in 2005 through 2020 when 500 hours of footage were uploaded every minute.
The book describes the cultural clashes of the startup with Google, which acquired YouTube in 2006, and recounts how some of the platform’s most recognizable features took shape. Perhaps most compelling are the descriptions that help a reader grasp the “struggle” for these tech platforms — balancing the goal of making money with corporate responsibility. While some of this is presented in general discussions about how the platform worked to control objectionable content over time, Bergen deftly presents specific examples through well-known incidents and creators (YouTube’s moniker for those who post). For example, Bergen introduces PewDiePie, YouTube’s “biggest star” with about 100 million subscribers. Between 2012 and 2019, viewers watched more than 130 billion minutes of PewDiePie’s videos. Because every dollar spent in ads on YouTube results in 45 cents for YouTube and 55 cents for the creator, YouTube made about $32 million from this single creator’s efforts during that period. However, after starting out streaming himself playing video games, over time, PewDiePie shifted to “meta-commentary on the patent absurdity of the internet” (p. 274). As a result of his commentary and videos, including posts with anti-Semitic and anti-Black comments, he became associated with fascist, neo-Nazi and alt-right views. Bergen describes YouTube’s silence in 2017, when an article in The Wall Street Journal about “the unsettling oddity of neo-Nazis endorsing a celebrity on the payrolls of Google and Disney” (p. 278) was published. He goes on to describe what was happening behind the scenes at YouTube and how a month later unwanted attention to Fortune 500 company ads appearing on questionable content caused companies to stop ad purchases in the name of “brand safety.” As creator income decreased, YouTube found themselves stuck between angry advertisers and angrier creators — while at the mercy of algorithms it could not control (p. 287).
Speaking of algorithms, Bergen also addresses online safety for children, specifically describing how “bad actors” worked around YouTube algorithms to get pedophilic or harmful content in front of children, such as by combining children’s characters with adult themes. The author also outlines the approaches YouTube took over time as they attempted to maintain safe spaces for child viewers. While not a major theme, Bergen also touches on children featured as stars on YouTube channels.
Find out more or get the book: