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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

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All Episodes

86:23

19 Puppy Songs: How 2 Dogs, Pandemic Boredom, and...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/09/18

Matt Hobbs was a working musician and the "house band" for an improv theater in Atlanta. Then the pandemic hit in 2020. With live performance on hold and life getting boring, he looked for musical inspiration at home. Luckily, his two adorable chihuahuas, Lenny and Mar-Pup, delivered.On a whim, he began writing short and ridiculous songs from the dogs' perspective and posting them on Instagram. The creative exercise got laughs from family, friends, and a small community of pet owners looking for

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51:58

18 The Internet Archive Is in Big Trouble...and It...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/09/11

The Internet Archive, a non-profit repository for BILLIONS of pieces of media, has been lending digital books from its library since 2011 without a hitch. But in March 2020, they made one crucial mistake that now poses an existential threat to the online "Library of Alexandria."This week, The Internet Archive lost its appeal in a lawsuit brought by the 4 major publishing conglomerates. And while the publishers are *technically* right in their copyright infringement complaint, the consequences of

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85:03

17 Accessibility Unlocked: How Blind Players Enjoy...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/09/04

SightlessKombat is a video game streamer and reviewer, who also consults on some of the industry's biggest titles: "God of War," "Sea of Thieves," "Horizon: Forbidden West," and more. Yet he has never seen a single pixel.That's because he was born blind — completely without vision. But he was drawn to video games from a young age because ... well, they're awesome. So, how does he actually *play* them? The answer is, it depends. Game and Internet accessibility has come a long way since the '80s

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68:46

16 Why New Laws to Protect Kids Online Might Backfire...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/08/28

Most people can agree that protecting children from harmful online content — self-harm, disordered eating, gore, disinformation, extreme social pressure — is a good idea. Much of that falls on parents.But algorithms are disturbingly good at showing us extreme content we never searched, but can't look away from. Addiction (and thus more ads) is social media's business model. And keeping up with the Web wormholes that teenagers find themselves in is an impossible task, especially when these

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57:14

15 Is It OK for my kids to keep watching MrBeast?

INFLUENCE ·

2024/08/21

The flood of allegations around the world's most famous influencer range from petty YouTube drama to serious (and possibly illegal) safety issues. MrBeast is very popular in our household, but the raft of controversy makes us question whether our kids should keep enjoying their favorite YouTube channel.This week, I break down why The Beast is under fire, and how the controversy snowballed in recent months, leading to a parenting moral quandary. Plus: Fake and AI-generated product reviews are

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78:34

14 Speedrunning "Stardew Valley" Is More Complicated...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/08/14

It's a busy week here in my house, so while I'm lining up fresh interviews for you, please enjoy this feed drop from my other show, where we interviewed two wonderful video game speedrunners who race through one of the chillest games ever made: "Stardew Valley." - Originally published on January 13, 2023 - Where RUSHING into marriage is a good idea! Speed running Super Mario Bros. is a straightforward endeavor. Whoever saves the princess fastest gets the record. But what about open-ended sims,

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89:50

13 There's Never Been a Better Time to Talk About...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/08/07

You and everyone you love will die. There's no way around it. Yet we rarely talk or think about the topic until we have to. For the first time in human history, we are "living longer and dying slower." That's good news, but it also creates a cultural disassociation with the reality of death.But there's a growing movement - online and IRL - around death literacy. It advocates for ongoing conversation and education about this universal part of life. Just like exercise, finances, or playing piano,

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98:25

12 The Skibidi Cinematic Universe: Why Michael Bay Is...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/07/31

The surreal machinima "Skibidi Toilet" has been viewed 65 BILLION times across platforms, attracting the attention of Hollywood explosion enthusiast Michael Bay. The mega producer (Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean) has licensed the bizarre web series to make a feature length film or TV series.The Gen Alpha meme generator is more than just a flash in the pan - it has real narrative structure, and the Skibidiverse has been rapidly expanding over the last year. Even if your kids have never seen

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90:31

11 Why Professional Content Moderators Can't Afford...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/07/24

When we report a spammer, a scammer, or online harassment, where does it go? Who decides what gets removed or banned? Bots can do some of the work, but when it comes to messy online emotions, we need human expertise for context and judgement.So who are these heroes? What do they see all day? And how does content moderation work on a global scale, where the ethics, laws, and cultures of different platforms are so subjective? This week on INFLUENCE, Alice Hunsberger breaks down this complicated

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90:14

10 ADHD and Sex: How a Life-Changing Diagnosis...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/07/17

When Catie Osborn ( @Catieosaurus ) had a medical emergency, she thought she was losing her mind — perhaps experiencing early onset dementia. But after further evaluation, she got a much different diagnosis: ADHD.Suddenly, her entire life snapped into focus: Intense fixation and extreme boredom, difficulty maintaining friendships, the crushing burden of everyday tasks, and in her own words: "I didn't know how to People." She deeply educated herself about the spectrums of ADHD, autism, and their

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94:03

09 Stop Doom-Scrolling: His Daily Doses of Hope PROVE...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/07/10

At the age of 7, Jacob Simon set out to become a world-class figure skater. He competed around the world and was training for the Olympics when a dislocated shoulder derailed his career. Devastated but not defeated, he made a conscious choice to focus on the positive.His other skills as a writer and artist came in handy when he started sharing short, personal videos on Instagram and TikTok about the climate crisis. But these were not about rising temps or dire warnings. All of Jacob's stories

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116:34

08 The "Ken Burns of Video Games" Nailed Longform...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/07/03

I'm on vacation this week, but very happy to share this interview we did on another show, with Norman Caruso (The Gaming Historian) back in 2021.If you enjoy games as much as we do, check out "Colette & Matt Have Entered the Chat," wherever you get podcasts: https://haveenteredthechat.com/ -- Original Show Notes from May 28, 2021 -- Norman Caruso, aka The Gaming Historian, has been meticulously documenting the history of video games (and their weird peripherals!) on YouTube since 2008. It took him

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99:19

07 Meet the Comedy Nerd Documenting the History of...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/06/26

When Mark Malkoff was in 8th grade, he wrote a letter to Phil Hartman, one of his comedy heroes on "Saturday Night Live." He assumed Hartman was too famous and busy to look at fan mail. Except, Hartman *did* respond with a heartfelt note.For Mark, this (and many other encounters) cemented a life-long obsession with comedy and late night TV — so much so that he moved to New York City and became an audience coordinator at "The Colbert Report" and "Late Night with David Letterman." He was touching the

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89:58

06 He Quit His World-Touring Band to Teach Drum...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/06/19

Mike Johnston was living the dream. His band was signed to a major label. He was touring the world, playing for thousands of adoring fans, and making good money. But something was missing.He didn't know what, until a friend told him how happy he looked when he was teaching drums, rather than performing. That's when he figured out he has an "educator's soul." So he stepped back from the band and taught drums full time. It was exhausting, and this income potential was capped by the hours in the week

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113:45

05 Information Disorder: The Disturbing Rise of...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/06/12

“Fake news,” conspiracy theories, and click-bait are no stranger to all our Internet feeds. When we spot it, we may block an account or kindly refer a relative to a more reputable source. But what about the misinformation we can’t even see? Specifically, content in other languages, created for online communities we can’t possibly access?For the relatively small community of Vietnamese-speaking immigrants in the U.S., there are almost no reliable media outlets to serve news in their native language

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74:46

04 How a Star Wars Parody Show Changed YouTube...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/06/05

The early days of YouTube were for home movies, cat videos, and short vlogs. But in the summer of 2006, something emerged from Wisconsin that would change our perception of what Internet video was capable of. “Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager” tells the classic story of Darth Vader’s younger brother, who commands a middle-management job at the local grocery store, rather than a Death Star.But “Chad” was more than just a hilarious Star Wars parody. It had the production values of a fully-fledged

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69:22

03 Why This Brilliant Visual FX Artist Would Rather...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/05/29

Chelsea Laufer went to a prestigious film school. She got a job in TV production, and then in animation. But it wasn't until she uploaded her *own* creations to the Internet that her life turned magical.Chelsea VFX makes inspired, short-form digital magic tricks where she disappears into hula hoops, takes a dip in her own cup of coffee, and changes the color of her sweater with a snap. Her visual effects skills rival Hollywood movies, and her flair for short-form surprises racked up millions of

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79:18

02 He Gained 500,000 YouTube Subscribers After Making...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/05/22

When I was coming up in media and learning about online video around 2010-2011, Craig Benzine (known to the Internet as @wheezywaiter ) was a big inspiration. His videos were so absurd, so fast, and so funny. I felt like he was speaking to a new kind of audience. "YouTuber" was starting to become a job, and being ridiculous on the Internet could pay the rent. Loyal subscribers and conversations from the comments section were the gold standard.But as YouTube became more algorithmic, Craig's channel

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69:07

01 This Wildly Popular True Crime Podcaster Has a...

INFLUENCE ·

2024/05/15

The mysterious Jack Rhysider talks to hackers, cyber criminals, bank robbers, crypto scammers, (real!) spies, CIA agents, and penetration testers. Because his job sends him to the darkest corners of the Internet, his true identity is not known. But that never stops him from sharing how his extraordinary podcast - Darknet Diaries - comes together. From the kernel of an idea, to sweeping stories full of twists and turns, his true crime episodes started with the InfoSec crowd, and quickly gained mass

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44:28

Introducing: INFLUENCE with Matt Silverman

INFLUENCE ·

2024/04/09

Oh hey there! Matt here. It's been a minute, but if you're subscribed to this feed, I have a big update for you. 2G1P is now INFLUENCE, and I'm very excited (and nervous!) to be taking the reigns of a show we are so proud of. All the details you need to know are in this ep, and down below. I hope you'll join me for this next chapter!Help me reach 1,000 subscribers (even if you don't listen on YouTube!): https://www.youtube.com/@InfluencePodcast This show is made made possible with listener support:

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