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>>Derek: I'm Derek Slater. I work for Google and I'm your host today on Google's Take Action
Hangout. One of our core values at Google is to focus on the user and all else will
follow. And that's really the purpose of Take Action, too. We wanna start a conversation
among all of us on the web about what we want the web to accomplish.
And then, we want to take some steps to accomplish it. And that's why last week, we asked you
to answer the prompt, "The internet is the power to__," to share your voice about what
the power of the internet is. And many of your answers focused on creativity, and culture
and art.
And we wanted to focus on that today. And that's why we brought together these four
folks. Because of the internet, all of them have created content, created art, created
information. And they haven't just created. They've created information and content.
They've created communities. They built communities online and they connect with their fans. Their
fans don't just watch content or read it, they connect with it, they participate, they
give feedback, and they shape what comes next. And that's really the model we're looking
for here on Google dot com slash take action, too.
We have a lot to learn from these folks and we help you participate and shape what we
do next. And so, let's start this conversation today. Why don't we go around and have everybody
introduce themselves--who they are, why they're here, what they're doing--and fill in the
prompt themselves?
What is the power of the internet to you? Chesca, why don't we start with you?
>>Chesca: Hi, I'm Franchesca. On YouTube, I go by Chescaleigh, or Chescalocs, which
is my hair channel. And I make videos in my bedroom. And I talk about funny social commentary
stuff. And I had a viral video that got people upset. And that was great. And the internet
for me has been a great place for me to make tons of friends.
And it's been a really great thing for my career. I've gotten really great jobs. I've
gotten to travel. I've just gotten to do so many amazing things because of YouTube and
the network of people that have been supporting me and watching my videos for five years now.
So, it's a really huge part of my life. Every night, my fiancé begs me to put down my phone
because I tweet and Facebook all day long. So, it's a really big part of who I am. And
I think I would be a totally different person if YouTube wasn't part of my life right now.
So, let's pass it over to Shay and Danny and ask you guys what does the internet mean for
you guys.
>>Shay: Go ahead, Dan.
>>Danny: You want me to go first, Shay? I think--. Well, my name is Danny. I'm the CEO
and co-founder of Maker Studios. And we're a company that works with lots of content
creators to help produce content and drive audience and help monetize on YouTube and
to build audience and all these things.
So, it's been quite an experience and very, very exciting having YouTube give us the ability
to reach a worldwide audience. I think that's something what the internet is. It's so powerful
that you don't have the distribution problems that you used to have. You can find people
wherever in the world and you can connect with an audience.
And there's a certain freedom there that's really empowering for the individual. And
I think that's what's really exciting to me.
>>Shay: Yeah. My name is Shay. I'm known as ShayCarl on the internet, on YouTube. I've
been making videos on YouTube for about four years now. I am most known because I have
cute kids and a hot wife. [laughs] I've made a daily vlog of me and my family for almost
four years now on a channel called "Shaytards."
And I'm a co-founder of Maker Studios with Danny, about what? How long has it been? About
two and a half, three years. Danny called me one night when I was in Idaho as a radio
DJ. And he said, "You should move down to LA and we should start a company and we'll
all like, work together and build each other's channels up.
And we'll help shoot for each other and edit for each other. We'll hire people and blah,
blah. And then, blah, blah." And I'm like, "What? No way. OK. Let's do it." And so, here
I am. So, the internet has literally taken my life and switched it 180 degrees. I mean,
I was a manual laborer, granite-cutting, granite polishing, silica dust breathing, 60 hours
a week, manual laborer to moving out to LA and being able to entertain people on YouTube.
And it's literally changed me and my family's life. And it's the best. I love it. Next,
next.
>>Derek: Clay, I think someone's pushing it over to you.
>>Clay: So, it's funny. I'm here in Atlanta to speak to my high school. And the talk that
I gave was about failure. I nearly didn't graduate from high school. I failed two classes
my senior year. And they actually gave me a specialized test so that I could graduate
'cause at the school that I went to, no one had ever failed from there.
So, I was actually the dumbest kid to ever go to my high school. And from that moment,
I decided the web--. Al Gore had just invented the internet. And I had really started to
teach myself about programming and the web and how to write software. And by my junior
year of college, I had raised a half a million dollars in venture capital and dropped out
to create a company, my own business that actually, I also failed at.
And so, the internet has given me the ability to be an autodidact. And the talk that I gave
at this high school was really about how when I was in school, there was this concept of
"well, I'm going through school. I'm going through this ritual of education, so that
one day, I could go out into the real world and be successful."
But what the internet did for me was it allowed me to choose when the real world began. It
allowed me to choose to accept that kind of responsibility for my own education and accept
responsibility for failure, which I think is great.
And now, as a result, I get invited back to a school that failed me in Political Science
and English to talk about a book called "The Information Diet" that I wrote that's on politics,
which I think is pretty awesome. So, Chesca, I wanna ask you a question if you don't mind.
>>Chesca: OK, sure.
>>Clay: Which is, and Shay, you can chime in on this, too. But my background is in now
cause. Like, I work for cause-based organizations. I worked for Blue State Digital. We did a
lot of work in politics. And then, I worked for the Sunlight Foundation, work at government
transparency.
And my book is really about how to have a more rational discussion around our larger
social issues. But really, it's about how we can measuredly cause change. And you guys
both have incredible communities, both Shay and Chesca. You both have incredible communities
around you.
How do you translate that stuff into real-world change?
>>Chesca: Well, something that I did last year that was really cool was I participated
in my very first half-marathon. And it was for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. And
I actually vlog from my runs.
>>Shay: Go team.
>>Chesca: Yeah, go team. I ran like, with my camera. And Shay, you probably could attest
to how awkward it can be to be walking around with your camera.
>>Shay: Right. Yeah.
>>Chesca: And exercising with your camera is equally as strange.
>>Shay: I went ahead and just ran the full marathon. 'Cause I just wanted to go all the
way.
[laughter]
>>Clay: Way to make people so small there, Shay.
>>Chesca: Well, I did half of one, OK?
>>Shay: Did you film it as--? Yeah, that was the worst.
>>Chesca: Yes.
>>Shay: Filming as you're running.
>>Chesca: But I filmed all of my training in order to get my subscribers to help raise
money for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. And it was really great. I mean, I got so many
emails from people saying that they really looked forward to seeing my runs and just
me talking about the training process and learning more about LLS.
>>Shay: But how many people are like starting to run now because they've watched you?
>>Chesca: So many.
>>Shay: Right? Like, think about how many people's lives you've changed just because
>>Chesca: And look at how many people are like, getting in shape because Shay got in
shape. And I thought it was so cool that you vlogged about losing weight and changing your
diet. And you got your YouTubers involved. So, I think that using YouTube or using the
internet as a medium to show that changes that you're making in your own life, is a
really inspiring way to encourage other people to do the same thing.
'Cause sometimes, if you don't have someone in your immediate life, or your family, when
you're trying to exercise or eat healthy or be part of a cause, there's always naysayers
in your real life. So, sometimes, being able to go online and get that encouragement from
someone else can be really helpful and can motivate people to get involved, regardless
of what the cause is.
>>Shay: Totally. And we've just seen with causes, like Kony for instance, just how that
video blew up. My Twitter feed was incredible. I was getting probably a hundred tweets an
hour of people asking me to tweet this. Like, "Shay, help us get this out there." And I'm
like, "What do you mean? It's already out there."
A hundred of you an hour are tweeting this to me. Like, what am I--? I mean, it was like
wildfire. So, depending on the cause and what's trying to be pushed out there, it's insane
the information that can, [snaps fingers] just like that. Something can happen here
in Los Angeles and people can know about it across the world within seconds.
I remember going to bed when the tsunami happened in Japan. You know how you go to bed and you're
checking your few last tweets? Like, "Just a few more. Maybe somebody said one more thing
to me and then I'll just check it one more time before I go to sleep."
And I remember seeing that Japan earthquake happen. And I was like, "Oh, crap. That's
a huge earthquake." So then, I turn on CNN and I remember watching that tsunami wave
come in. And you could have never done that before. Like, that information that travels
so quick.
And then, just as you're talking about people changing because they see you change, it's
a two-way street because people start running because I see, "Oh, he's losing weight and
getting in shape." But then, all the positive feedback they give back to you, it's like,
"Well, I don't wanna let them down, so I have to keep doing it."
And it's like this really great positive flow and just like, "Yeah, man. I feel great. You
feel great. We're all making a change for the better."
>>Chesca: Twitter is really good for that 'cause I use it to hold myself accountable.
Because the last thing you wanna do is say you're gonna do something to thousands of
people and then they are gonna ask you every single day, like, "Well, are you doing it?
What are you doing right now? Have you run?"
>>Shay: You're a liar, Shay. Yeah, I remember when I was trying to lose weight, I would
purposely not vlog myself eating ever. Like, if there was ever food, I'd be like, "Don't
turn the cameras on," because it doesn't matter what I was eating. I could be eating watermelon
and people would be like, "There's a lot of sugars in watermelon, Shay."
[laughter]
So, there's the downsides of it, too. But yeah, the running. That's great that you did
a charity. That's something I didn't do. I didn't attach a charity to my marathon. But
I'm wanting to do that.
We've talked about starting a Shaytards marathon, where we raise money for a foundation. And
there is really cool opportunities. And I've been shocked at how much people are willing
to donate when it comes to the internet.
>>Chesca: Yeah.
>>Shay: Like, people--. Kina Grannis did this fun run the other day. If you know her, she's
a YouTuber. She just did this video that we helped produce on Maker Music about raising
money. She raised like 15 thousand dollars in an hour, a couple hours. I don't know.
Like--.
>>Clay: The Caine's Arcade kid got himself like 150 thousand dollar scholarship in the
course of a day.
>>Chesca: Oh yeah, I saw that.
>>Shay: It's insane. Yeah, and just with a kick starter and all those--. Like, people
are being able to do cool projects. What did Freddie Wong raise? Like, a quarter of a million
dollars to make a movie. Like, look at all the TV and movie executives being like, "How
do--?"
>>Chesca: Well, I think the difference--.
>>Shay: They have an audience base behind the project that help create that's amazing.
>>Chesca: Yeah, absolutely.
>>Shay: And they're gonna love it 'cause they trust him to make something they're gonna
like.
>>Derek: Where do you guys think that audience came from? I mean, why do you think that they--?
You guys have all had that success building a community online. What is it that made people
feel invested in you that brought them in so that there was that accountability on both
sides and both people working together, both sides of it working together?
>>Chesca: I think it's just a matter of people getting to really know you. And I think that
because we're so accessible and because you can tweet us and you can email us and you
can Facebook and you can leave comments. I mean, we'll answer them.
You know, people love celebrities, but now you're seeing a lot of celebrities really
getting invested in Twitter and trying to do stuff on YouTube, because that engagement
is so amazing. You can't do that with other people.
>>Clay: With "The Information Diet," the book, I've tried to say, "Look, I'm gonna make myself
the most accessible author that's ever been." Right? So, I do Google+ Hangouts. I do, every
email that comes in via my website goes to me and I reply to it. It allows me to have
an unfiltered connection with everybody that reads my book.
And that kind of accessibility helps me--. My book, what I'm trying to do with "The Information
Diet" is make it more of--. My goal is to create a sustainable news movement or a whole
news movement 'cause I think it's necessary for a variety of reasons.
And the way that I've found that I've been able to do that is through creating direct
connections with people. And it's the same thing I learned in politics, the same thing.
I was Howard Dean's lead programmer in 2004. And the thing that made his web campaign so
successful was the idea that he could interact with people over the internet.
Now, YouTube hadn't been invented then, but it was the same thing that happens now with
every presidential candidate that you see, whether it be Mitt Romney or Barack Obama.
Here's a way for you to connect with the President of the United States of America. And that
connectivity, I think, is the thing that really creates communities.
>>Derek: Shay. Actually, there's a question here that came in. And we got a bunch of questions
in when people RSVP'd for the Hangout and I wanted to let them chime in here. Rachel
Q. from New Jersey wants to know, "The internet clearly is changing lives and connecting all
sorts of people," which we had been talking about.
"Are there any particular people you have met through the internet that changed your
lives and how did you meet them?"
>>Shay: Yeah, I mean--.
>>Danny: None, right?
>>Shay: Yeah. All of my internet friends are now like my real friends and business partners.
And people I live down the street from. It's been crazy to talk to my high school friends
or my old real friends now, 'cause it's--. The internet has brought--. Imagine all the
people that you would probably fit with and be best friends with from different places
of the world.
You can now find those people. You know what I'm saying? Like, the people that you would
relate to the best. So, it's totally changed my life. I've met the editors, like my friend
Brett, who have edited my daily videos. When I handed over the responsibility of editing
my daily vlogs to Brett, I remember almost like crying when I was gonna hand him the
camera.
Like, "Here's the footage. Just do a good job." And it was so hard to give that responsibility
to somebody. But because I had known him for three or four years and had met him and hung
out with him, I could do that. So, yeah. It's totally changed.
You remember you'd hear about like, "She met her new husband online. Can you believe that?
That won't last two months, I guarantee." You know? All that weird stuff is now like,
oh, that's actually--. You know, listen. We're all just people. I think we're figuring that
out.
And just because people are from different places doesn't mean they're all gonna ***
you, you know? There's just places of people that you can meet online and actually interact
with in real life. So, yeah.
>>Chesca: I've found that I'm actually closer with some of my online friends than I am with
some of my real life friends. And I totally agree. The stigma's not there anymore. It's
not like, creepy or weird. For most of us, I think our parents still have taken a while
to get used to it.
Mine love it now, but at first they were like, "You make videos in your bedroom? Are your
clothes on?" There's always that weird moment of explaining to people what I do for a living.
But it really has made so many amazing friends and business relationships. I mean, look at
you guys. You guys have a business now. So, it's really amazing.
>>Danny: And for everyone who says friends and family and business don't mix--.
>>Shay: They don't. Don't do it 'cause it's been--.
>>Danny: We say it wrong. We say it wrong.
>>Shay: We've done a really good job, though, of being able to be friends and to run a business
at the same time. It's been tough.
>>Derek: Danny, you started with your friends who are offline friends when you started Maker
Studios, which you run now. But you met Shay online?
>>Danny: No. It was a little bit of both. We'd had a small production company, Lisa
and I and her brother Ben, who is also a co-founder. But through our experience of just being on
YouTube and what was so exciting about YouTube to us was like, wow, there's no gatekeepers.
We can reach a worldwide audience. We can do everything ourselves. We can put this content
up. But it was a situation where, while that was so great, we also wanted to collaborate
and have more infrastructure and support. And to have to do everything yourself became
tiring.
And so, we came up with the idea of "what if we joined," 'cause we were in LA, we were
doing production, we knew people who did production and stuff, "what if we joined forces with
our real life friends who knew how to do production and our online YouTube friends who had large
audiences?"
And most of them were like, "Yeah, we'd love to move to LA." So, when Shay moved, that
got the ball rolling and some other people moved out and we were able to bring real-life
friends, online friends together and that was the start of Maker.
>>Shay: And Danny was, you know, his foresight was great because where this is going, Danny
saw that years ago. And sometimes, it's not always the best because it's like people miss
that community feeling. I still feel like it's possible because it's definitely a business
now.
Like, this started out--. When we started out, when Lisa started out, it was just about
putting stuff up on the internet and having the interaction. And then, of course, it turns
into a business. And then, when it became a viable resource for my family to live off
of, then you take it more seriously.
But it's still a great opportunity to share ideas and feelings and stuff. But at the same
time, use it to make a living, help provide for our families and stuff.
>>Derek: A lot of people asked for advice about how to do what you guys have done in
building a community and also building a business around it. For Chesca, you seem like you've
hit an inflection point where you've taken off pretty recently. What would be your advice
starting from that position?
>>Chesca: I think the best advice is--. I see a lot of people look at other people's
success and say, "That's what I want." But I don't think people realize that there is
a lot of work that goes into it. And that some people, yes, you know, maybe you get
your dog on a skateboard and you become a huge overnight sensation, but for some people
who actually are creating regular content and doing editing and special effects and
sitting there writing scripts, you have to just keep at it.
Because there's gonna be a period of time where no one's watching. And then, you're
gonna get a little bit of an audience. And it's gonna grow. And you have to do it because
you love it, not because you think like, "Oh, I'm gonna blow up and I'm gonna make all this
money and have a hundred thousand subscribers."
'Cause I got news for you. It doesn't really always happen that way. So, I think that when
you start out just building those connections and when you get those comments, respond to
them. When you get those emails, respond to them, because every single time that you talk
to people that are in the community, you're building your audience.
And just being able to learn from other people and collaborate with other people. I mean,
look at what Maker does. You guys, all of your talents collab with each other and that's
how their audiences grow. So, maybe you aren't big enough to collab with Shay, but who can
you collab with that's in your sphere, that's the same size as you?
Because if they've got ten people and you've got ten people, now you've got 20 people.
>>Shay: That's good advice. That's really good advice. That's actually some of the advice
that I took when I first started. There was a YouTuber by the name of Nalts--Kevin Nalts.
If you guys know Nalts, he wrote this 50-, 60-page book. This is like, two and half,
three years ago.
It was like an e-book that he just uploaded and that was one of his things. Collaborate
with people who have the same size audience. I remember a YouTuber named Itsbrent, who
had 800 subscribers.
>>Chesca: I love Brent.
>>Shay: You know Brent?
>>Chesca: I got to meet up with Brent.
>>Shay: Oh, cool. He had 800 subscribers. I had like, 250 subscribers and I remember
thinking like, "Man, he has 800 subscribers. I wonder if he'll collab with me." And so
I'm like, I only have 250 subscribers. So, I remember emailing him and I was like, "Hey,
we should make a video."
And he was like, "Yeah, totally." I was like, "No way. He has like, 600 more subscribers
than I do and he's gonna make a video with me." So, that was for me, I was like, that's
800 people that probably don't know about me that we can--. If I can make a video with
him and--.
In the early days, going to like, gatherings, making those, that was a huge thing. It's
hard. I mean, when you ask "How do you get this audience?" there's a lot of stuff that's
gone into it. Like, it's been four years of my life, like every single day. Like, constantly,
like you said. You're on Twitter. You're on Facebook.
>>Chesca: But you treated it like it was--. Even though it's a hobby and it's fun, you
do still have to treat it like a job in some ways because you have to.
>>Shay: Oh, absolutely.
>>Danny: That's what we tell--. I mean, any talent that we want to work with--maybe they're
not on YouTube yet or they're just starting or whatever--this has to be a full-time commitment.
And it's far more than just making videos. You have to engage with your audience.
You need to reply to comments. You need to do Google+ and Facebook and Twitter and other
social media. You need to collaborate with other people. And it's not something you can
just part-time and see success. And I think authenticity and engagement are critical to
build a core audience.
>>Chesca: Yeah. Half the work is making the video. And then, the other half of the work
is engaging and promoting and working to get people to see that video. 'Cause you can't
just upload and be like, "OK. Where is everyone?"
>>Clay: As a guy who has no videos, 'cause I have a face for radio, I have a little bit
more tactical advice, which is, I've generally been self-employed for a while. But I'm really
on a mission.
Well, one big thing that I think is the overarching thing between everybody here, is if you live
your life at the nexus of what it is that you're good at and what it is that you're
passionate about, then you're pretty much unstoppable.
>>Shay: Yeah. That's great.
>>Clay: People who don't do that are more stoppable than people who do do that. But
then--.
>>Chesca: When you do this, you look like you're in a gang or something.
[laughter]
>>Clay: Yeah. Join this gang. But like, some real practical tips I have, a lot of this
stuff is in the book. But social media and then--.
>>Shay: Hey, wait. Do you have a book?
>>Clay: Yeah.
>>Shay: What's it called?
>>Clay: It's called "Shay's Guide to the Information Diet."
[laughter]
But the idea here is that--.
>>Chesca: I see what you did there.
>>Clay: Is that social media can get a little tricky and get a little distracting. So, don't
get too much into, like, you could start promoting yourself and then be like, "I'm gonna be on
Twitter for the rest of the day. Oh, look. Words with Friends." And one thing that I
found, for me, that's been super successful, two tips, is one to schedule my social media.
So, I'll promote myself, but there's a time for me to be on Facebook, right? And I'm on
Facebook. It's on my calendar, right? And like, there's my slot and that's when I go
on Facebook. And the other thing is, and this is really--.
I mean, if there's one piece of advice I could give anybody, I say this over and over and
over again, is wake up every morning like a producer, not like a consumer. 'Cause if
you wake up like a consumer, than your job is really to react to the stuff that other
people are making.
But if you wake up like a producer, your job is to make stuff and to consume stuff that
helps you make that stuff.
>>Derek: Good call.
>>Clay: And so, the way I try and do it--I'm a writer of a book--maybe you've heard of
it. It's called "The Information Diet." But the idea for me is I wake up every morning
and this is my morning routine. I wake up. I say hello to my wife. I brush my teeth.
And then, I go and sit in front of a computer and I write 500 words.
Before 8 AM, I've written 500 words every day. And then, after that, I pretend like
I'm going to the gym for a little while. And then I eat some breakfast. And that's my day.
But if you wanted to really change your life, I think the challenge I put forth to anybody
is write 500 before 8 o'clock in the morning.
And if you do that, it'll make a huge difference than what it is that you're doing 'cause you're
waking up as a producer rather than a consumer. And if you're not producing, if you're not
making stuff, if you're not a maker, then what are you doing?
[all members speak at once]
>>Derek: So, Vera G. in Connecticut had a question about how this would apply to people
who aren't yet online, on YouTube, on social media. She wrote, "As a small business owner,
I do not always have the time or funds to be on the cutting edge of internet initiatives.
I don't want to see everyone sitting at the computers, buying only online, because their
schedule doesn't allow them to explore and shop their downtowns. It is these downtowns
which keep our country economically viable. How can small businesses--like hers--benefit
from the internet?"
What can somebody like that--? What would you say to somebody like her?
>>Chesca: I totally hear you when it comes to how much time and how much money, but to
go back to what Clay was saying, it's like, this could potentially be a source of income.
So, you have to put in the work to get the results. So, maybe not necessarily a YouTube
channel is the best thing for her, but you can use the internet to find out what your
customers want.
Like, what are your customers talking about? What's trending on Twitter that you can possibly
utilize to come up with a really funny slogan? Or, using--. The internet is a great way to
survey what people are interested in. So, maybe you don't have a Facebook or a YouTube
channel, but you can keep your eye on what everybody's talking about and what everyone's
interested in, depending on what your brand is or what your service is.
Maybe your audience is saying, "Man, we really wish there was X, Y, and Z." And because you
can hear them talking about it, then you can say, "OK. Well, now my business needs to stock
these products because this is what everyone's talking about on Twitter."
There's so many great services you can use to do searches for keywords on Twitter. And
on Facebook, you can read what people are updating on their status message. You can
look like, all through Facebook. And doing your research is a great way to inform your
product and inform your brand.
>>Clay: I also think that technology enables offline action. Like, we always talk so much
about how the internet, the SOPA stuff, right? When we talked about SOPA and it's enabling
all this stuff and "the internet stopped SOPA, hooray," but there's more to politics than
that.
There's more to change than that. And the internet drives people out of their homes.
There's this idea that somehow the internet keeps people in their house in their basement
in their pajamas, but really, I think it can cause a lot of people to get outside. It can
cause people to shop at local stores.
And it can cause people to make some really interesting and fun changes in their lives
and to do things that they wouldn't ordinarily do--to step outside of their comfort zones.
And yes, does it mean that we need to be a little bit more proactive about that sometimes?
For sure. But the amount of art that gets created and the amount of offline social interactions
that get created because of the internet, it's unfathomable.
>>Shay: As a business owner, I would say that you should have at least a Google+, Facebook,
Twitter. You should have those social streams that people are on. You gotta take note of
that--where people are at. What is the best? As a business, you want to be in front of
the most eyeballs and the most eyeballs are on the internet.
So, you should have, if you don't have a YouTube channel, I can understand that, but you should
try to implement as many of those things as possible. One thing I love that you said earlier,
Clay, about what the internet's done for you is that it's allowed you to decide when life
began.
And I love that. 'Cause I remember feeling that way when I was in college and I was sitting
there listening to this professor. And I just paid 75 dollars for this freaking book that
he wrote and then there's probably gonna be a second edition out next year that'll be
80 bucks.
And I'll be able to sell this one back for 15. But I'm like, "What kind of stupid system
am I locked in here, where they're in charge of what I do?" I'm like, going off on a rant
here. It's like, they're gonna make me sit at this place for four years to get this piece
of paper that that piece of paper says, "Hey, look at me. I can have a job now. I'm ready
to work 'cause I have this piece of paper."
It's like, no. When I was sitting in those classes, I was like, "I'm ready to start making
money and living life right now." And you're totally right about what the internet has
done. It's enabled you to just do that.
>>Clay: You don't have to ask for that permission anymore. You used to have to. You used to
have to wait, back when you had to mail your resume to somebody. Right. And that kind of
thing. But now you don't. And you don't have to.
The talk I gave this morning was really about like, look if you're in your social studies
class and you hate social studies. And you want to learn PHP or Ruby or Python, then
you can just go and learn a programming language now. You don’t have to wait for access to
a teacher to do that.
And that is the fundamental difference between kids these days and us.
>>Shay: Is you can start creating. Yeah. And as far as businesses you can start a business
online. Or whatever your business is.
>>Chesca: You're a musician.
>>Shay: Yeah, just anything. You create stuff. You make stuff you like. I love your access.
You have a book? I'm gonna read that book. The access book?
>>Clay: "The Information Diet."
>>Shay: Is that on the book? Do you have a diagram of that access thing? That's a great
example. I love that. All right. Well, I love you.
>>Derek: So, with that, I guess one other question that came up a lot was about the
future of the internet and the future of creativity.
>>Male #1: Hey Derek. We have to let Shay go.
>>Derek: You gotta let him run? We got busy artists on our schedule.
>>Shay: I have to do a podcast with Nice Peter right now.
>>Derek: Do it. Take off, Shay. Thanks for your time, Shay.
>>Shay: Thank you guys so much. Thanks, Clay. Thank you guys.
>>Derek: How are we doing on time here?
>>Male #2: We got Danny for about five more minutes, ten more minutes here.
>>Derek: All right. Good. Thanks guys. So, we'll start to wrap it up then. So, there
are a couple questions that came in about the future of the internet. You guys have
really thrived and succeeded. The internet has empowered you. What do you wanna see come
next?
And what do you hope the web community can do together? That was one thing that came
up again and again. What do you hope to see out of creativity online going forward or
the sort of communities you're building? They've done so much already, but what's your hope
or your dream about what's next?
>>Danny: I mean, from my perspective, I feel like we're in a really, really exciting time
for creativity because technology has enabled people to create things that weren't possible
to create and a cost that was never possible to the masses before, like the quality of
cameras and the ability to create stuff with editing software and graphics software and
all these things, is really amazing.
So, I think that, combined with platforms like YouTube and the ability to reach a worldwide
audience, we're seeing what I believe will be a creative renaissance in a sense of the
next great artists rising up from the internet and through these new tools.
And the intersection of technology and creativity is a very exciting thing that you see bubbling
up. And I think entertainment's gonna change drastically and already has been changing,
but it's gonna change even more in the coming years. And the internet is a big part of enabling
that, especially from an audience and distribution standpoint.
>>Derek: And Danny, how many people do you employ there at Maker these days?
>>Danny: There's around 250 employees--full-time employees.
>>Derek: And talent. Do you expect that to grow or do you expect this ecosystem around
you to grow even bigger?
>>Danny: It'll definitely grow. I think yeah, it's consistently growing. We're excited to
even potentially expand beyond LA and to create infrastructure in places that we can help
support artists around the world. So, this is, because of the internet, you don't have
to come to LA or New York or some of these other places to be an entertainer and to do
the types of things that you would've had to go to one of these places before.
And so, our whole goal and mission is really to empower as many creative people around
the world to do what they love and to make a living doing what they love. And I think
this is the long tail now. It's gonna be, you can find your audience. And I think if
you're authentic and you're creative, you can find an audience and make a living and
there'll be millions of people able to do so.
Whereas before, it was just a small amount of people who had the access. And there's
a lot of gatekeepers. And now, it's truly a democratization of entertainment. And I
think creativity is gonna flourish in the coming years.
>>Chesca: Yeah. I agree with Danny. I think it's really exciting to see how YouTubers
are stepping outside of the internet and mainstream media is taking notice and really looking
at the YouTube model as a way to engage with their audience. I mean, you now have Carmen
on the radio.
And you've got John Green's book on the bookshelves. And Stevie Ryan has a show on VH1. I mean,
YouTubers are getting these amazing opportunities and people are realizing like, "Wow. There's
a lot of talent here." So, I think that the audiences are definitely gonna grow.
And I think the opportunities for people on YouTube are going to expand. And I'm really
excited to be a part of it. I think it's inspiring. It's really fun to watch. And I love turning
on my TV and seeing all of these great people get these opportunities. And I think that
it's just gonna continue to grow.
>>Clay: So, when I--. I used to think that government was run by the voters and that
our votes were the thing that managed government. And it's not. It's actually more exciting
than that. Government is run by the people who show up. And that means that our civic
participation doesn't end on Election Day.
It happens 365 days a year. And I think a lot of people don't understand that. People
say things like, "We are the ones we've been waiting for," or "Elect me and I'll solve
all your problems." But the truth is government doesn't work that way. The truth is government
is run by people that show up.
And if you don't show up to work with government and to deal with your government every day,
then the government is not going to represent you. It's going to represent the people who
are showing up and who are talking to government every day. And the greatest thing I think
the future of the internet holds for my field is the potential to make it easier for people
to show up and interact with their governments at all levels.
To have it so that people can work with governments at all levels, whether it be their local level,
their school board, the dog catcher, or the President of the United States. We see that
now working in politics where every election year, it turns out that we have these stories
that come out about the power of the internet and electing people.
But I wanna see it happen on a day-to-day basis, where we're talking about the power
of the government to create better and more powerful and a stronger democracy--a democracy
that scales a little bit better than what we have now.
And I think that is the most exciting piece of democracy, or the most exciting future
of the web, is how do we make it so that our democracy, our union or unions, are much stronger.
>>Derek: So, you guys are all optimistic, which is great. I am, too. And so here's one
last question, then. We got a really interesting point from Mariam in Iran, wrote to us to
say she couldn't join today because her internet access is filtered. And she was getting to
the Google dot com take action site through her VPN.
And your unfettered access to the internet has been critical to your careers and lives,
but not everybody has that. And so, one question that came to mind is, well, if you're optimistic
about the future, what keeps you up at night? What are you worried about?
What could go wrong in this future of creativity or the future of what the internet can mean
to everyone's daily lives?
>>Clay: For me, it's a de Tocquevillian problem, which is that the majority is not always what
people want. What the majority of people want isn't necessarily always the best outcome.
And because we react, we can see and react to information so quickly without getting
to the facts.
I think sometimes, we get swept away in mentalities that don't actually make much sense. And so,
the exciting part about dealing with politics and the internet is that we can create much
change and a lot of interesting and impactful changes. The negative part to that is that
change often the right thing to do?
>>Danny: I think we have to--. The scariest part is just thinking that it will change.
Either the internet, the freedom we have now, this ability to connect with people and, will
be censored like it is in Iran or China or other parts of the world where government
isn't as, they're not as willing to allow this open place for people to interact in
this way.
And I think making sure that we can just keep it how it is is probably--. I think worrying
about censoring the internet or things not working how they are is probably the biggest
concern.
>>Chesca: Yeah. I agree, especially when you have built a livelihood on the internet and
it is part of your job and a huge part of your life, the idea that that can be taken
away or disrupted is when you spent so much time building a community and building a presence,
that is really scary.
I also think, I sometimes have privacy concerns. And I try to be really careful about what
I share and how much I share. But I do realize that there's information being collected about
us at all times on the internet. And so, I am one of those people that does Google searches
of myself and it freaks me out to see my parent's address listed on the internet, just floating
around out there.
No idea how it got there. There's a map that can show you where my mom lives. That freaks
me out. So, I really try to be conscious about what I share and what's being shared about
me. And so, that's something that I try to be really mindful of. And it can be scary
because unfortunately, there are creepsters out there.
And the last thing I want is them sneaking up on me.
>>Clay: It turns out I'm one of them. I mean--.
[laughter]
>>Chesca: Yeah.
>>Derek: Great. OK, guys. We're gonna wrap things up, but I wanna give, before we end,
the last word to somebody else. There were really a ton of amazing voices in this first
conversation. This really is the first conversation we hope to have through take action.
But I wanna leave you with one more. This is from Nancy in Indiana. This came in through
the RSVP form for this Hangout. And she wrote, "I can't attend the session, but I wanna tell
you how critical the internet is for me. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor on March
28th.
Since then, my lifeline to research for clinical trials has been the internet. It's linked
me to medical centers, support groups, and other health care professionals, and also
my friends and family that are around the world. I cannot thank you, the internet, enough
to allow nontechnical people like myself access to information that will have a definite impact
on my life.
Many thanks for the work that you do." So, thanks to you, Nancy, and to everyone in the
internet community who is empowered by it and helping other people with it. And for
everybody who took part in this conversation about the power of the internet. Your responses
were really overwhelming and this was an experiment.
And the plan for Take Action hasn't been written because it needs your help to write it. This
is about you. So, you are among the first to be in the Take Action community and we
hope you'll invite others, you'll give us feedback, and you'll participate. So, go to
Google dot com slash take action.
Fill in the form. Tell us what you wanna hear about next. And then, we'll continue the conversation
from there. That's all we have time for today. Thank you, Clay and Chesca and Danny and Shay.
Please go check their sites out as well. And we'll talk to you guys later. Until next time,
thank you.
>>Chesca: Thank you.
>>Clay: Thanks.
>>Chesca: Bye guys.
>>Danny: See you, guys. Nice hanging.