Tech Bros Laid the Foundation, But Women Built Social Media
Listen now
Description
The story of social media has usually been told from the perspective of tech bros, set to a soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz argues in her new book, Extremely Online, that the real protagonists of the story are actually the users, who figured out what these platforms were best at before the people who invented them did. “Venture capitalists act like Mr. Beast invented it all,” Taylor says. “It was mothers, women, marginalized people, LGBTQ people.” Taylor guides Sam through the under-reported history of social media, from mommy bloggers who pioneered content monetization to brands tweeting about Scandal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More Episodes
In our final game of "Into It/Not Into It," comedians Naomi Ekperigin and Andy Beckerman, hosts of the Couples Therapy podcast, put their marriage on the line... for the sake of culture. Sam asks if they're into Michelle Williams' narration of the Britney Spears memoir The Woman in Me (thus...
Published 10/27/23
Britney Spears' memoir The Woman in Me is out today. But we're taking this moment instead to revisit the songs we never stopped listening to — and what she was trying to tell us all along, through the music. Sam talks with writer and critic Maura Johnston about what Britney gave to her body of...
Published 10/24/23