WEBVTT 1 00:00:06.210 --> 00:00:11.190 Kind of shocking just how much of the internet was built by women and their 2 00:00:11.190 --> 00:00:15.600 stories are always left out conveniently. Yeah. 3 00:00:16.650 --> 00:00:18.720 I didn't set out to write a women's history, 4 00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:22.050 but I just kept finding that women were the ones that were shaping these 5 00:00:22.050 --> 00:00:25.740 platforms. I decided to write this book because I really wanted to write a 6 00:00:25.740 --> 00:00:30.420 history of the rise of social media from the user perspective and specifically 7 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:32.430 power users in the content creator world, 8 00:00:32.440 --> 00:00:34.530 and that effect that that's had on the ecosystem. 9 00:00:34.530 --> 00:00:39.120 Because I think most of the narratives that we've sort of consumed about the 10 00:00:39.120 --> 00:00:41.610 rise of social media are corporate narratives. 11 00:00:41.610 --> 00:00:43.410 It's through the lens of certain companies. 12 00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:48.090 It's the social network and the bazillion books about Facebook or 13 00:00:48.570 --> 00:00:51.330 all these other sort of platform specific books, which by the way, 14 00:00:51.330 --> 00:00:53.160 I love and read all of them. 15 00:00:53.160 --> 00:00:56.100 I have Sarah Frier's 'No Filter' somewhere behind me, one of my books. 16 00:00:57.420 --> 00:00:57.900 And of course, 17 00:00:57.900 --> 00:01:01.050 those books get into the user side a little bit in the context of specific 18 00:01:01.050 --> 00:01:01.883 platforms, 19 00:01:02.670 --> 00:01:07.350 but it doesn't tell the whole story of how this whole world emerged and the 20 00:01:07.350 --> 00:01:10.020 interplay between the platform. So yeah, 21 00:01:10.020 --> 00:01:14.790 I wanted to zoom out and tell that story and sort of in parallel how this 22 00:01:14.790 --> 00:01:18.510 half a trillion dollar content creator industry emerged. 23 00:01:19.230 --> 00:01:22.980 When legacy media just immediately latches on as soon as they start making 24 00:01:22.980 --> 00:01:23.813 money, 25 00:01:25.350 --> 00:01:30.150 it's an interesting look at just how little their 26 00:01:30.150 --> 00:01:33.660 attention there was to these people up until the point when they realized that 27 00:01:33.660 --> 00:01:35.580 they could start using them. 28 00:01:36.240 --> 00:01:39.270 Because capitalism, and at the end of the day, 29 00:01:39.390 --> 00:01:43.050 the only respect content creators get is the money that they make. I mean, 30 00:01:43.060 --> 00:01:44.940 I talk to so many women content creators, 31 00:01:44.940 --> 00:01:48.480 and you hear this a lot when people talk about Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton, 32 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:53.100 actually. It's a complete disrespect of what they've achieved and who they are. 33 00:01:53.100 --> 00:01:57.720 The only lens through which their success can be appreciated by society and 34 00:01:57.720 --> 00:02:01.740 men is their financial success. It's like, well, look, she's kind of a slut, 35 00:02:01.740 --> 00:02:06.120 but oh, this is literally what somebody said to me about Paris one time. 36 00:02:06.450 --> 00:02:09.570 "She's kind of a slut", which, by the way, where are you getting that from? 37 00:02:11.490 --> 00:02:15.840 "But she makes a lot of money. So I respect her". It was this tech guy, 38 00:02:16.320 --> 00:02:20.730 and it's just like, first of all, you're sexualizing this woman, 39 00:02:20.730 --> 00:02:24.810 because she was also, unfortunately, both of these women dealt with 40 00:02:27.180 --> 00:02:30.990 horrible relationship situations where they had sex tapes leaked in Paris 41 00:02:32.820 --> 00:02:33.780 without her consent. 42 00:02:33.780 --> 00:02:37.260 And it's just horrible. And it reminds me of the way they talk about Julia too, 43 00:02:37.260 --> 00:02:41.070 with this hyper misogynistic language, like calling her a whore all the time, 44 00:02:42.210 --> 00:02:45.870 or just that notion of how people speak about female influencers today.