Can you figure out which of the above is the real Jacinda Ardern? Probably! But one day, that might not be true. There are many reasons to believe the internet shouldn’t exist. Social media empires exerting, intentionally or not, their control over sovereign governments. Baby Shark. Your aunt on Facebook. It pains me to give … Read more
Which parties spent the most on Facebook and Google, and was it really all worth it in the end? The election is over and the results are in: Labour swept the polls, National lost big, and the Greens and Act are set to return to parliament with an even bigger cohort of MPs than they … Read more
In this edition of The Spinoff’s media podcast The Fold, Duncan Greive unpacks the most important data points from a seismic new report into audience behaviour. NZ on Air’s biannual Where are the Audiences? report is unique in the way it attempts to measure the behaviour of a diverse set of audiences across all media … Read more
Pour some bubbly, stick some sausage rolls on a platter, and park yourself in front of the laptop – the lockdown Ockhams are being broadcast live tonight on YouTube. Courtesy of illustrator Toby Morris, we have just the thing to complete your viewing experience. Tonight, the 2020 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards ceremony goes live … Read more
The Wellington-based musician’s new album is the culmination of 10 years of memories, YouTube, and jazz school. It’s been over a decade since ‘My Heart Will Go On – Recorder by Candlelight’ was uploaded to YouTube. It is a work of exceptional craftsmanship. The soft focus, the notes pitching in just the wrong places, and … Read more
An Auckland dad is offering good money to someone who can teach his daughter the basics of being a YouTuber. Vlogging has boomed in popularity among young people in recent years as a potential career path, but how achievable is it, and is it safe? Sandeep Khurana is a busy dad. He works in real … Read more
Looking back on 10 years which saw New Zealand’s media transform from a position of near-limitless power and influence to the deeply humbled reality of today. At the end of 2009 I had resigned from my first good job, convinced that print media was finished. The good job was as editor of Real Groove, a … Read more
At the start of the month, a makeup launch broke the internet and sold out of over a million products in under an hour. Alex Casey and Jihee Junn dissect the YouTube documentary series that led to its success. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZywVlyogLYM&t First off, who is Jeffree Star? Who is Shane Dawson? Jeffree Star is an internet … Read more
Where do we watch content, what do we want from it, and how do we view New Zealand news? Here’s what we learned from NZ On Air’s latest survey on identity, culture and the media. We still like to watch free-to-view TV Despite the lingering doom and gloom around linear television, almost three-quarters of respondents … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Henessey Griffiths, a 22 year-old Dunedin student who just finished her dissertation about one of Youtube’s most controversial stars. Content warning: this article contains mention of suicide, please take care Yesterday afternoon in Dunedin, honours student Henessey Griffiths sent a tweet that was a year (or rather, five days) in the … Read more
Tech companies are stepping up their efforts around the Christchurch Call to action against online extremism. Ross Young, head of Public Policy and Government Affairs for Google New Zealand, outlines what his organisation plans to do. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern rallied the world after the atrocity of the Christchurch terror attack using compassion, ambition and … Read more
If you’re addicted to watching Claire whip up gourmet Twinkies and Brad ferment garlic while you eat microwaved pasta in your pyjamas, then this is the list for you. First the world was given The Beatles, the cast of Friends, the Paris, Nicole, Britney and Lohan era, One Direction and Zayn, the Kardashians and BLACKPINK. … Read more
My YouTube Party of Five is a new series in which we invite people to share their five favourite YouTube videos – the ones hold closest in their heart, the ones they’ll play at 2am while drunk at a party. This week: Spinoff senior writer Alex Casey. Animals are good. Humans are bad. Here’s my … Read more
Since writing about adults with fetishes exploiting children on YouTube, David Farrier has become familiar with the reality for kids on the wild west of YouTube. He explores the troubling subculture of videos targeting children created by adult hypnotists. “Um… goodbye YouTube. I’m serious. I have to delete my channel because of perverts,” says James … Read more
Decisions about what speech gets regulated should made by the people affected by these rules. That’s the whole point of democracy, write two Canadian professors. When it comes to dealing with online hate speech, we’ve ended up in the worst of all possible worlds. On the one hand, you have social media platforms like Facebook … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Remembrance service in Christchurch to be broadcast nationwide, skepticism about social media extremism crackdown, and warnings made before bridge collapsed. All eyes will turn to Christchurch today once more. A National Remembrance Service will be held to mark two weeks since the mosque attack, which took 50 … Read more
YouTube has been in the news a lot in the last few weeks and parents around the world are considering whether they should allow their kids to watch. Emily Writes decided it was time to give it up. Hi, my name is Emily Writes and I’ve been one week without YouTube Kids. This has been … Read more
Alex Casey can’t stop watching Jojo Siwa’s vlogs on Youtube. With the documentary Jojo Siwa: My World arriving to Lightbox this month, here’s your much-needed introduction to a young internet sensation. Most nights I find myself falling down a Jojo Siwa rabbit hole, lying on my side with 400 chins as I let vlog after … Read more
My YouTube Party of Five is a new series in which we invite people to share their five favourite YouTube videos, the ones hold closest in their heart, the ones they’ll play at 2am while drunk at a party. This week: Spinoff staff writer Jihee Junn. My kind of party is a YouTube party – … Read more
Two years after David Farrier helped to unearth the exploitation of children on YouTube, the sexualisation of children on the platform continues – and NZ companies are inadvertently appearing alongside it. Oskar Howell reports. New Zealand businesses are advertising their goods and services alongside softcore pornographic videos on YouTube; they just don’t know they’re doing … Read more
My YouTube Party of Five is a new series in which we invite people to share their five favourite YouTube videos, the ones hold closest in their heart, the ones they’ll play at 2am while drunk at a party. This week: Tiny Portions sculptor Rose Young. I tend to treat YouTube as a test, forcing … Read more
Alex Casey chews on the serious issues with Nela Zisser, competitive eater and YouTube sensation. Nela Zisser is planning her next big meal: an entire block of butter. Or perhaps three kilos of fish and chips. Or perhaps another attempt at eating 100 McDonald’s cheeseburgers. Despite the YouTube star being six years into her competitive … Read more
My YouTube Party of Five is a new series in which we invite people to share their five favourite YouTube videos, the ones hold closest in their heart, the ones they’ll play at 2am while drunk at a party. This week: Spinoff staff writer Don Rowe. Being forced to sit in front of YouTube videos … Read more
My YouTube Party of Five is a new series in which we invite people to share their five favourite YouTube videos, the ones hold closest in their heart, the ones they’ll play at 2am while drunk at a party. This week: Sam Brooks. “Something bad, something good, or something funny?” Whenever I’m hosting a gathering … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Biggest ever boost to minimum wage announced, Gerry Brownlee was well aware spy firm had been hired in CHCH, and Andrew Little talks about Google meeting. The minimum wage will jump by the largest single increase in history, from April 1 next year. The NZ Herald reports … Read more
After writing about fetish videos involving kids on YouTube two years ago, the problem has only got worse, writes David Farrier. Way worse. When will Google do something about it? Editor’s note: While we have endeavoured to protect the identities of the children involved, we recognise that by publishing this story their privacy may be … Read more
We love to hate the media but it’s social media we should be concerned about, writes Danyl Mclauchlan. About halfway through Before Sunrise – a 1990s romantic comedy that has the same significance for Gen-Xers as the Vietnam war did to the Boomers and Harry Potter does for Millennials – Jessie and Celine, who are adrift … Read more
How hard can it be to film a Youtube beauty tutorial? The On the Rag team share their makeup expertise. Everyone knows that one of the greatest Youtube genres was On the Rag is ‘Chit Chat Get Ready With Me’, a beautiful format where beautiful people put on their beautiful makeup beautifully while you sit there … Read more
The future of screen formats is vertical, if Instagram TV has its way. And that may not be a bad thing, argues Lydia Burgham. Millennials have killed a lot of great things in this world: newspapers, analogue clocks, the music industry, face to face communication – but their greatest scalp of all may be horizontal … Read more