Computer Science Colloquium
Friday, February 23
2:35pm in Wege (TCL 123)
How Big is YouTube?
Social media and user-generated content have thoroughly transformed the media landscape, giving birth to powerful companies, transforming news and political participation. Despite the influence of platforms run by Google and Meta, it is difficult to answer the simplest questions about these technologies, like “How many videos are hosted on YouTube?” Our lab has published a novel method for estimating the size of YouTube and learning other essential facts about the platform. In the process, we have uncovered a set of legal and ethical questions that will be essential for other “unpermissioned research” about social media platforms.
Ethan Zuckerman ’93 is Associate Professor of Information, Communication and Public Policy at University of Massachusetts Amherst, and directs the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure. He is the author of Rewire (2013), Mistrust (2021) and co-author of the Illustrated Guide to Social Media (forthcoming in 2024 from MIT Press). He and his family live in Lanesboro, MA.