Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube's Chaotic Rise to World Domination
by Mark Bergen
Related videos
4:47
WGN author interview via video call plus footage and slides
378
9
Oct, 2022
Spoiler:
Author Mark Bergen chats with Chicago’s WGN about the rise of YouTube. They share a snippet of “Me at the zoo,” the first video ever uploaded to YouTube, in which the budding content creator notes that elephants have long trunks. Fast forward to the present, where more than one billion hours are viewed on YouTube each day; the author credits part of YouTube’s phenomenal success to the fact that they decided to share revenue with creators.
59:18
Bloomberg podcast sit-down interview with Mark Bergen
179
4
Aug, 2022
Spoiler:
Although the focus of Bergen’s book is YouTube, this in-depth interview goes beyond the scope of the book by discussing tech in general, the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic, online privacy, and the trend toward eliminating third-party cookies. Bergen is a Bloomberg Technology reporter and here chats comfortably with his colleagues. He notes that there are over two million creators on YouTube, in spite of the fact that the company was not even profitable a decade ago.
Follow the author
Publications
The Times: Like, Comment, Subscribe by Mark Bergen review — the chaotic rise of YouTube
The Wall Street Journal: ‘Like, Comment, Subscribe’ Review: Watching YouTube Rise
Associated Press: Review: ‘Like, Comment, Subscribe’ looks at YouTube’s rise
Ask Albert:
Rate the book
⚡️ Find Out Even More Wisdom
"The NASA managers and astronauts alike were in the grip of what they would later recognize as “‘Go’ Fever”—the desperate drive to push on toward a launch..."
"Between 1942 and 1944, an estimated six tons of dental gold were deposited in the vaults of the Reichsbank."
"The world’s chip industry, as well as the assembly of all the electronic goods chips enable, depends more on the Taiwan Strait and the South China coast than on any other chunk of the world’s territory except Silicon Valley."
"The universe is vast and varied, daily forcing scientists to confront, accommodate, measure, and analyze the diversity of all that’s out there."
"With its high profits and bifurcated labor force, California modeled capitalist discipline for the nation."
"The world of the past few decades has been the best it will ever be in our lifetime. Instead of cheap and better and faster, we’re rapidly transitioning into a world that’s pricier and worse and slower. Because the world—our world—is breaking apart."
"Venezuela falls always into the same trap, opting for the strongman, the caudillo, a savior on a white horse."
"There are three things that create a reserve currency: a strong economy, a strong military, and an open capital account. The United States has all three, but its relative position is declining, while China's is rising."
"In the age of AI, the most valuable commodity will be data, and those who control it will hold enormous power."
recommends
"The world has made spectacular progress in every single measure of human well-being."
"The ability to make connections across disciplines—arts and sciences, humanities and technology —is a key to innovation, imagination, and genius."
"I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and nonviolence are as old as the hills."
"The Blank Slate is the denial of the deep roots of human nature. It is the idea that we are all born as blank slates, but that society can mold us into whatever it wants us to be."
recommends
"How do you cause people to believe in an imagined order such as Christianity, democracy or capitalism? First, you never admit that the order is imagined."
"Every atom you possess has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of millions of organisms on its way to becoming you."
"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special."
"The Blitz was not just a battle of bombs and buildings; it was a battle of wills, a test of endurance, a clash of values."
"It is a story of violent conquest and occupation; of conspiracies against slavery and colonialism; of revolutions attempted, victorious, and undone."