INFLUENCE

Laina Morris was 20 years old when she entered a Justin Bieber fan contest in 2012. She uploaded a video of herself to YouTube singing a creepy parody song. She didn't win the concert tickets, but when she woke up the next morning, she had won a very different prize.

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When people post online, they usually declare their opinions. And in social media echo chambers, those opinions tend to be validated.

But the subreddit r/ChangeMyView *might* be the only place on the Internet where people come in good faith to have their opinions challenged — and perhaps even changed.

Topics range from movie fandom to food preferences to history to some of the most challenging ethical and political discussions of our time: abortion, global conflict, mental health, and of course our current U.S. leadership.

Someone posts their view, and commenters present their challenge. If the original poster is swayed — even slightly — they award a "!Delta" for the change. The result is a bastion of civil discussion about emotional and challenging topics, and the community of 4 million subscribers is held together by precise rules and moderation.

But in April, the University of Zurich conducted a social experiment on the subreddit shook the community to its core, and begs the question: Can AI be weaponized to change the views of millions on the Internet? And if so, how can we study that problem ethically?

This week, Logan MacGregor, a moderator of r/ChangeMyView, joins Matt to discuss what makes this community so special, and how it responded to this shocking experiment that violated its core tenets.

Read more about the response to the AI experiments here: https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/1k8b2hj/meta_unauthorized_experiment_on_cmv_involving/

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Grace Helbig was cutting tape in her 2006 video editing class when the professor asked everyone to create accounts on a new website called "YouTube." That's where Grace found vloggers, jump cuts, and an emerging alt comedy scene. She became obsessed (in a good way) and immediately got to work.

What began as comedic vlogs and absurd sketches with her improv pals blossomed into a 20 year career of making the Internet laugh. But it wasn't without pitfalls.

Grace joins Matt to discuss how she's reinvented herself online many times, the deep sense of community she found within the "second wave" of YouTubers, memories from early VidCons, her battle with breast cancer and how it informed her new standup tour, and why being an Internet face can make you question your true identity.

Plus: Your questions for Grace, and a harrowing round of YouTube history trivia.

Follow and subscribe to Grace's work:

https://youtube.com/itsgrace

https://www.instagram.com/gracehelbig

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Video journalists Joss Fong and Adam Cole are rarely satisfied with the results of scientific inquiry. As self-proclaimed "earnest nerds," they are compelled to unpack the process — to learn HOW experts know the things they know. After more than a decade as science communicators at Vox and NPR, they launched their own home on YouTube called Howtown.

Their videos on how to measure animal sentience, how we really know the circumference of the Earth, and how hot sauces get so ... hot ... have captivated millions of curious viewers — even those who may not be fluent in evidence-based science journalism.

This week, Adam and Joss sit down with Matt to discuss their leap from established media to independent creators, the meticulous quality of their work, and the curiosity that compels them to create, even when the economics of the Internet felt grim.

Stop what you're doing and subscribe to Howtown: https://www.youtube.com/@Howtown/

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Dr. Will Bulsiewicz went to school for 14 years to become a gastroenterologist. He loved working with patients, and developed a fascination for emerging research about the gut microbiome -- trillions of bacteria that live in our intestines and digest fruits and veggies. As a young doctor, he realized that public perception of the gut microbiome was lacking. When he gave a talk about colon microbes at his hospital, the intimate event became a standing-room only fire code violation. That's when he knew the world was hungry for more information, and the Internet was calling.

Appearing on some of the world's most popular and respected health podcasts, Dr. B rocketed from a practicing clinician to a leading advocate for gut health -- especially on Instagram. While he could treat a handful of patients in private practice, he was helping millions as a science communicator online.

When working 9-5, writing books, creating content, appearing on podcasts, and being a dad became too much, he made the tough decision to leave clinical work behind and become a full-time influencer.

This week on INFLUENCE, Dr. Bulsiewicz sits down with Matt to discuss the fascinating microscopic creatures in our colons that we can't live without, why our modern diets starve them of essential nutrients, the advice his wife gave him that changed the course of his career, what to look for when parsing medical information online, and some disgusting trivia about cow intestines.

Follow Dr. B on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theguthealthmd/

Learn more about his books here: https://theplantfedgut.com/

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This week on INFLUENCE, the double-edged sword of YouTube's ContentID systems, and the explosion of AI-generated ads and voices which have no shame in cloning content creators for profit.

Plus: Some changes to the Patreon so you can get more for less!

Links discussed in this episode:

How to subscribe to a private Patreon RSS feed: https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041347732-How-to-use-your-audio-RSS

Why YouTube apologized for age-gating Balatro videos: https://www.theverge.com/news/645257/youtube-balatro-univeristy-videos-age-gated-localthunk

POV: You Got Deepfaked: https://news.thepublishpress.com/p/pov-you-got-deepfaked

This show is made possible by listener support: https://www.patreon.com/influencepod

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Like many of us, Zoë Ligon worked a retail job after college. But in her case, it was a sex toy shop, where she would have fascinating interactions with customers. Talking sex with random strangers changed her perspective on sex education, and she began writing about her own experiences on Tumblr – back when Tumblr was still a safe haven for NSFW content.

Her blogging became paid gigs, which lead to a social media following, and one of her posts in particular catapulted her to worldwide attention.

These days, she’s a sex “edutainer” across many platforms, anchored by more than 260,000 followers on Instagram. She’s leveraged this online following to launch an online sex toy store called Spectrum Boutique. She’s also branched out to online sex work via OnlyFans, brand partnerships, and consulting.

This week, the self-proclaimed “Dildo Duchess” joins Matt to discuss how she built her empire. Zoë explains why normalizing kinks and sexual wellness on social media is so important, and why meaningful sex education is so difficult on modern social platforms. She also shares the origin of her book, “Carnal Knowledge,” and the family tragedy that became the catalyst for her business.

Follow Zoë: https://www.instagram.com/thongria/

Check out Spectrum Boutique: https://spectrumboutique.com/

Read her book, “Carnal Knowledge: Sex Education You Didn’t Get In School:” https://spectrumboutique.com/products/carnal-knowledge-sex-education-you-didnt-get-in-school

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-Original Show Notes from May 20, 2022-

Stuart Duncan is the dad of an autistic son, and he's also autistic himself. So when he learned that autistic Minecraft players were being bullied on popular servers, he set out to create a safe and inclusive virtual space for the autism community. The moment he announced it, parents lined up in droves, hoping their kids could join.

Today, the server has 15,000 members, and Stuart has quit his job as a software developer to manage, moderate, and customize the server for kids (and their families) who communicate and play their own way.

Stuart joins us to discuss the origins of Autcraft, why he still relies on the Java Edition of Minecraft to serve his community, and the power of safe, custom virtual worlds for neurodiverse players.

If you're as moved as we are by Stuart's story, you can support Autcraft on Patreon to keep "The Best Place on the Internet" going for years to come: https://www.patreon.com/autcraft

https://www.autcraft.com/

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A peer reviewed study from the University of British Columbia analyzed the most popular ADHD-related videos on TikTok and found that very few of them contain information that aligns with medical diagnostics. Even more interesting, people who consume this kind of content perceive the diagnosis to be far more widespread - and symptoms far more intense - than in reality.

Social media is warping our sense of reality and self?! Inconceivable!

Plus: New bi-partisan legislation aims to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The 1996 law shields websites from litigation if their users upload harmful content. This protection is integral to how the modern Web functions, and erasing it could lead to over-moderation and fear-based censorship.

While harmful user content is always a concern, the true problem with social media is not that the content exists, but its weaponization by tech companies in the name of profit. In this case, Congress is fixing the wrong problem, and the consequences could damage online speech for years to come.

A double-edged hashtag: Evaluation of #ADHD-related TikTok content and its associations with perceptions of ADHD: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0319335&_bhlid=eba84bf6525fc0863f3276ea4a45eb0891dac351

TikTok is full of ADHD advice — just don't trust it for a diagnosis: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/24/nx-s1-5336303/adhd-symptoms-adult-tiktok

Lawmakers are trying to repeal Section 230 again: https://www.theverge.com/news/634189/section-230-repeal-graham-durbin

This show is made possible by listener support: https://www.patreon.com/influencepod

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Here’s an idea: Around 2012, YouTube was undergoing a profound transformation from a novelty economy to a loyalty platform. This was largely driven by vlog culture, but another format was emerging: The video essay.

But would Internet audiences (notorious for their ShOrT aTeNtIoN sPaNs!!!) watch longform, Socratic discussion of math, democracy, quantum mechanics, and Pokémon? Turns out: Yes.

Through the power of public broadcasting, an extremely innovative YouTube show emerged called PBS Idea Channel. It was produced by a talented team of writers, researchers and producers, and its host – Mike Rugnetta – became the face of Internet curiosity during its 5 year and 400 video run.

Today, you can’t swing Schrödinger's dead cat without hitting a video essay with millions of views. Their popularity can be traced back to Mike and his colleagues, who in-turn credit the vloggers and comedians who inspired them in the early days of Web video.

Mike joins Matt to discuss this rare time for Internet creativity, what it was like to build a large and intellectually curious community on YouTube, why he returned to his first love of audio design, how modern social media makes us so passive, and why he’s thrilled that his many ongoing podcasts don’t pay the bills.

Connect with Mike: https://rugnetta.com/

Mike’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikerugnetta/

Subscribe to Mike’s excellent podcasts:

Reasonably Sound: https://reasonablysound.com/

RIP Corp: https://ripcorp.biz/

Never Post: https://www.neverpo.st/

Fun City: https://funcity.ventures/

This show is made possible by listener support: https://www.patreon.com/influencepod

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Call the show and leave a message: (347)-871-6548

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