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PODCAST

INFLUENCE

What does it really take to make a living (and an impact) on the Internet today? Join Matt Silverman (who has been covering online culture for 15+ years) in conversation with YouTubers, musicians, podcasters, streamers, journalists, TikTokers and more about turning creativity into a job, building community on ever-changing platforms, and their complex relationships with huge online audiences. INFLUENCE is the relaunch of 2 GIRLS 1 PODCAST, a weekly comedy/interview show about fascinating online

technology hobbies

All Episodes

53:26

118 Sign Language Is Rapidly Evolving in VR

INFLUENCE ·

2020/02/03

Deaf users of immersive social platforms like VRchat can face a tough time communicating. Unlike other social media, VR spaces rely on verbal and physical communication rather than text. And sign language with current-gen VR controllers is limiting and clunky at best. But groups of volunteer interpreters inside VR worlds are hard at work making sure these spaces are more welcoming and accessible for deaf users. The result is an empowering community of "Helping Hands." This week, Alli and Jen speak

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56:31

117 Urban Exploring

INFLUENCE ·

2020/01/27

Sneaking into abandoned buildings and filming urban decay may not be the newest trend, but obsession with so-called “urban exploring” and “abandon porn” has skyrocketed alongside the widespread accessibility of social media. Today, millions of viewers eagerly await the videos of intrepid explorers like Bob Thissen, who travel the world in search of abandoned power plants, coal mines, theme parks, hotels, and shopping malls. Thissen’s mission is archaeological: to document places where no one has set

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62:52

116 The man who sold shares of himself on the Internet

INFLUENCE ·

2020/01/20

In 2008, Mike Merrill divided himself into 100,000 shares and offered them to the Internet for $1 a pop. After the initial wave of friends and family bought in, online strangers began to acquire shares of Mike⁠ — a regular person, not a company. With those shares come voting rights. Shareholders were allowed to decide Merrill's diet, his romantic decisions, even whether or not to get a vasectomy. Any personal life decision for which Merrill would seek advice from a friend, he instead posed to

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64:49

115 Lissa Explains it All

INFLUENCE ·

2020/01/13

In 1997, an 11-year-old girl set up a website with HTML tutorials and guides for Neopets. Within a few years, "Lissa Explains it All" was serving 500,000 monthly visitors, its forums hosted 75.,000 users, and Google was sending her big fat ad revenue checks. Alyssa Daniels, a kid from Orlando, was teaching the world how to make websites long before YouTube tutorials and Squarespace — and making legit money in the process. Alli and Jen talk to Daniels about her childhood entrepreneurial spirit, early

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78:53

114 Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

INFLUENCE ·

2020/01/06

Romance novels get a bad rap, probably due to a history of stereotypical characters, plots, gender roles, and an all-around "trashy" look on supermarket and drug store shelves. But the genre has changed radically, and romance fiction now spans a wide variety of sub genres and writing styles. If you love romance, but not sure where to find the best authors and titles, start with Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, a community co-founded by Sarah Wendell nearly 15 years ago. The site (and podcast) is a

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77:36

[Encore Episode] 42 Bronies

INFLUENCE ·

2019/12/30

Happy New Year from 2G1P! We're taking a break this week, but wanted to re-share another one of our favorite episodes: Bronies! Enjoy and we'll see you in 2020. Original publish date: July 23, 2018 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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69:05

113 ClausNet: The Social Network for Santas

INFLUENCE ·

2019/12/23

Portraying Santa Claus in the modern era takes a village. What's the best way to whiten your eyebrows? Growing a beard, or applying one? How jolly is too jolly? That's where ClausNet comes in. It's a social network, online forum, marketplace, and community where Santa performers can trade tips, tell stories, and learn the best ways to communicate with excited kids. Michael Rielly has been portraying Santa Claus since he was 12 years old, and founded ClausNet in 2007 after identifying a strong need

en

60:03

112 The Cottage Industry of Custom VR Sex Avatars

INFLUENCE ·

2019/12/16

The rise of powerful, free 3D modeling software has emboldened a cottage industry of VR enthusiasts to create custom sex avatars for virtual porn. But what happens when members of this community start requesting models that look like celebrities, ex-girlfriends, classmates, and co-workers? Samantha Cole covers VR and online sex for Vice, and her recent piece titled "They Can't Stop Us," chronicles the sometimes well-meaning but often seedy underbelly of a marketplace that trades in virtual belly

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66:43

111 @MugJerry and the Quest for Instagram Justice

INFLUENCE ·

2019/12/09

The Instagram account turned multi-million dollar media company @FuckJerry is notorious for stealing funny tweets, memes, and other content from creators, and posting them — without credit or compensation — to their own social accounts. Fuck Jerry's following has exploded in recent years (14.5 million Instagram followers at the time of publication), but so has the backlash. The #FuckFuckJerry movement became an anti-piracy rallying cry across the Internet. Two comedians (Davram Stiefler and Jason

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49:23

[Encored Episode] 82 God

INFLUENCE ·

2019/12/02

We're taking the week off for the Thanksgiving holiday, but we hope you enjoy one of our favorite episodes. Sit back, relax, and enjoy a conversation with a very popular social media influencer: God. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

55:58

110 THE GREATEST PRANK IN PODCAST HISTORY

INFLUENCE ·

2019/11/25

This week, we prank Jen, when her boyfriend Adam pretends to be an adult baby who knows a little too much about her personal life. Get ready for some epic 2G1P hi-jinks. Support 2G1P on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/2G1P Join us on Discord: discord.gg/2g1p Email us: 2G1Podcast@gmail.com Talk to Alli and Jen: https://twitter.com/alligold https://twitter.com/joonbugger Call the show and leave a message! (347) 871-6548 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

62:40

109 The Teens of TikTok

INFLUENCE ·

2019/11/18

TikTok came on the social media scene relatively recently (2016), and teens have flocked to it. The Chinese-made lip-syncing video app boasts 500 million users, most of them young. TikTok has developed its own culture and communities within, and Rolling Stone writer EJ Dickson has been observing and reporting on them in detail. As a non-teen herself, she's fascinated by the empowerment and deep social awareness that appears baked-in to Gen-Z, thanks to their constant connectivity. Alli and Jen talk

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65:08

108 Virtual Reality Therapy Sessions

INFLUENCE ·

2019/11/11

The anonymity of the Internet has long made it a place for confessions and bonding with strangers you'll never meet IRL. Virtual reality kicks it up a notch. Social spaces like VRchat allow strangers to inhabit the same "room" and communicate vocally and with body language, two aspects that differentiate it from the chat rooms of yore. One VRchat user, Syrmor, has found the platform to be an extremely compelling place for soul-baring, therapeutic conversations. So much so, that people around the

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60:56

107 'World of Warcraft' Reunions

INFLUENCE ·

2019/11/04

When World of Warcraft came on the scene in 2004, it redefined the potential for massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. Players not only spent daily hours grinding for loot and gear, but socializing in a deep and organic way. Lifelong friendships and IRL marriages were forged in the flames of Azeroth. As WoW and MMOs evolved, some players yearned for that simpler time. And with the recent release of World of Warcraft Classic, guild-mates and raiding parties who haven't played together in a decade

en

57:13

106 Deepfakes (with Sham00k)

INFLUENCE ·

2019/10/28

Deep fakes, a process that uses AI and machine learning to place someone’s face on another’s body with Hollywood-level results, have been entertaining and terrifying the Internet for the last few years. And the technology is advancing exponentially, according to Sham00k, a programmer and popular deep fake artist who recently transformed impressionist Jim Meskimen into the 20 different celebrities he’s impersonating. But with this great power comes great responsibility. What do deep fakes mean for

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61:52

[Encore Episode] 01 Is 'Furry' a Sexual Orientation?...

INFLUENCE ·

2019/10/21

We're taking the week off due to unforeseen scheduling mishaps, but wanted to share one of our favorite classic episodes that longtime listeners and new fans may not have heard. It's our very first published episode about the Furry community, which came to define the mission of the show, and set the tone for future episodes. We hope you enjoy, and we'll talk at you next week! Original Description: Alli and Jen speak with Dominic Rodriguez, director of the documentary Fursonas, about life (and sex)

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92:33

105 Virtual Reality: Sex, Marriage, and the Future of...

INFLUENCE ·

2019/10/14

Virtual reality might still be for early adopters, but as headsets get smaller and social norms evolve, more people are meeting, hanging out, having sex, and even getting married in virtual spaces. Peter Rubin is a VR expert, author, and senior correspondent at Wired, where he covers VR social spaces. And while people have been socializing and getting kinky online for decades, Rubin believes that "embodied presence" (truly feeling that your body is physically next to another person in VR) is a

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65:04

104 One Red Paperclip (Kyle MacDonald)

INFLUENCE ·

2019/10/07

In 2005, Canadian blogger Kyle MacDonald traded a red paperclip for a fish-shaped pen. From there, he wanted to see how many times he could "trade up" for something bigger and better. After one year and 14 trades (facilitated by the Internet, of course), he acquired a two-story farmhouse in Saskatchewan. No money changed hands. The barter-only experiment became a viral sensation and presents deep thoughts about the nature of value. Alli and Jen talk to MacDonald about his inspiration for the

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64:36

103 Selling $80 Used Tissues on the Internet

INFLUENCE ·

2019/09/30

Stand-up comedian Mekki Leeper wanted to see if he could convince the Internet to buy a fake wellness product. With some slick branding, fake Instagram followers, and the perfect media outrage hook, Leeper turned a Squarespace website and $1,000 into global demand for $80 used tissues. Vaev tissues claimed to get you sick today, so you'd be inoculated later. And people were willing to pay big bucks for these chic snot rags. The viral success of this fake health product (akin to Goop and Raw Water)

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63:58

102 Reborns

INFLUENCE ·

2019/09/23

Reborns are baby dolls with hyper-realistic features. So real, in fact, that bringing them out in public will often fool strangers into thinking they're flesh and blood, even upon close examination. There's a passionate online community of artists and collectors who fawn over these dolls, which tread right through the Uncanny Valley. Why? Alli and Jen talk with Reborn artist and YouTuber Stephanie Ortiz about the appeal of realistic dolls, her meticulous crafting process, their therapeutic uses, and

en

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