In the vast landscape of the Internet, YouTube is a giant, hosting over 14 billion videos that shape our digital experience. No one knew this number until Ethan Zukerman and his team calculated it using an advanced method they developed. Not only did they count the number of videos, but they also classified them, providing a vivid picture of YouTube’s cultural and linguistic diversity. This analysis also reveals the algorithmic dynamics that influence user experiences.

Ethan Zuckerman is an associate professor of public policy, communication and information at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He founds of the Institute for Digital Public Infrastructure.

Additional Resources:

• How Big is YouTube?, Ethan Zukerman's blog Dec. 2023

• "Building a More Honest Internet" Columbia Journalism Review, Ethan Zukerman, Fall 2019

• Media Cloud, an open source search engine and tool for studying the open web, developed with Ethan Zukerman

  
  

Recorded on 20 March 2024

Conversations with Sergei GURIEV is a podcast by Sciences Po. Hélène NAUDET supervised the production of this series, with the help of Jade SOULLARD, Sciences Po Master student. Sciences Po' studio produced and mixed it.

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