The internet is everywhere. But how did it start? How has it changed? And what will it look like in the future? No development in human history has changed the world as radically, or as quickly, as the advent of the internet. There’s almost no aspect of 21st-century life that it hasn’t shaped or fundamentally altered, for better or for worse. But the history of the internet is longer than you might think. Its foundations stretch as far back as the 1960s, decades before it would become an accessible and inescapable part of everyday life. In this new entry in the bestselling Bite-Sized Chunks series, author and journalist Chris Stokel-Walker traces the internet from its (relatively) humble beginnings to the ubiquitous force that exists today, from email and dial-up to social media and the metaverse. Breaking down complex concepts around how the world wide web works, how it has changed over time, and the effects it has had on the world as we know it, as well as explaining key terminology and spotlighting important figures, The History of the Internet in Byte-Sized Chunks explains everything you need to know about this era-defining technology in short, easy-to-digest chapters.

The internet is everywhere. But how did it start? How has it changed? And what will it look like in the future? No development in human history has changed the world as radically, or as quickly, as the advent of the internet. There’s almost no aspect of 21st-century life that it hasn’t shaped or fundamentally altered, for better or for worse. But the history of the internet is longer than you might think. Its foundations stretch as far back as the 1960s, decades before it would become an accessible and inescapable part of everyday life. In this new entry in the bestselling Bite-Sized Chunks series, author and journalist Chris Stokel-Walker traces the internet from its (relatively) humble beginnings to the ubiquitous force that exists today, from email and dial-up to social media and the metaverse. Breaking down complex concepts around how the world wide web works, how it has changed over time, and the effects it has had on the world as we know it, as well as explaining key terminology and spotlighting important figures, The History of the Internet in Byte-Sized Chunks explains everything you need

'Essential reading.' - ESQUIRE 'Both absorbing and highly illuminating' - THE BOOKSELLER 'No one understands the intricacies of YouTube like Chris Stokel-Walker' - THE ATLANTIC Two billion people watch YouTube and it reaches deep into everyday lives. Its creators start new trends, popularise new songs and games and make and break new products. Yet while they are famous to billions of mostly young people, they mostly remain a mystery to the general public and mainstream media. What is the secret of their appeal? How do they cope with being in front of the lens - and who is behind their success? More than 100 insiders spoke candidly to teach journalist Chris Stokel-Walker for this first in-depth independent book on YouTube. YouTubers is the only book you need to understand YouTube, its ownership by Google, its deal for stars and its ecosystem of talent managers, advertisers and marketers. It is a richly-layered deep dive into YouTube brimming with lively characters, engaging facts, and influencer case studies. It is an ideal guide for any media studies students, advertisers, brand managers and business people who need to understand YouTube professionally. And for any non-fiction reader interested in a gripping business and technology saga dripping with big money, ruthlessness, determination and ambition. YouTubers starts by charting the platform's launch in a boring 19-second video of the elephant enclosure at San Diego Zoo - which has now had 242 million views. YouTubers then moves onto the first oddball videos before the site found success by showing comedy clips from the TV show Saturday Night Live. YouTubers reveals how YouTube saw off its emerging rivals in the online video battle of the 2000s and was bought by the search engine specialist Google. With Google's billions and boosted by smartphones, YouTube became the dominant video platform. Bloggers started to create engaging, fast-cut videos that capitalised on the intimate relationship between creator and user - a 'parasocial' relationship stronger than the bond between TV presenter and viewer. By ceaselessly urging their followers to tap the like, comment and subscribe buttons, these creators helped YouTube's rise to global domination. YouTubers speaks to YouTube stars KSI, Hank and John Green and delves into the lives of child star MattyB, the training camp for aspiring teenage bloggers, the YouTube stunts that go wrong and the increasing efforts of creators to earn money from Patreon. And it tackles the platform's Muslim extremism, red-pilling, and its content guidelines and censorship. YouTubers asks how YouTube can take on the threat from other big platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. In short, YouTubers tells the riveting story of the exponential growth of YouTube from single home video to global tech phenomenon. It is the only book you need on YouTube. Extract Introduction One spring afternoon Casey Neistat uploaded a video lasting five minutes and twenty-two seconds to YouTube. In the style of so many YouTubers, he looked straight into the camera and aired his opinion on a matter of importance. As the elder statesman on the platform, Neistat's words carry weight. He can make or break products and careers - and this video was no different. Seconds after he uploaded his video to YouTube via his superfast broadband at his creative headquarters in New York, it was available worldwide to four billion people: everyone on Earth with an internet connection. Millions of Neistat's subscribers instantly received a notification telling them that one of YouTube's most influential stars was again speaking directly to them. Across the world in apartment blocks, restaurants, bedrooms and bathrooms, phones pinged, buzzed and beeped. Hundreds of thousands of people instantly watched what Neistat had to say. Wearing dark glasses, his hair streaked blond, Neistat vented his frustration at the way the media was second-guessing the motivations of YouTubers...

'It is rare for a business analysis to read like a thriller - this one does.' - Azeem Azhar, Founder, Exponential View 'Vital to understanding how[TikTok] works and the impact it's having.' - Damian Collins MP, former chairman of the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee 'TikTok Boom is a must read for students, scholars, and policy makers.' - David Craig, Clinical Professor, USC Annenberg TikTok is the new force in social media. Just a few years after its launch, TikTok has one billion accounts. Every day hundreds of millions of teenagers are gripped by its brief videos, powered by a secretive algorithm that can propel a meme or or a user or a product to global stardom within minutes. Multi-national businesses are scrambling to harness its raw marketing power. TikTok is a cultural hurricane, making instant hits of new and long-fogotten songs, books and TV shows, and a constant political and social commentary, playing out every minute of the day in tens of millions of videos. TikTok is also the first app outside the United States to challenge Silicon Valley's dominance of social media. Aware of the Chinese app's challenge to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok. TikTok is already banned in India. TikTok Boom reveals how TikTok has spread exponentially in the West since its launch in 2017. Its owner, ByteDance, wants to become China's answer to Google and has rolled out TikTok using smart tactics revealed for the first time in the book. Using a range of sources deep inside and outside ByteDance, TikTok Boom reveals the story of its founder Yiming Zhang and its origin in another app in China, Douyin. It follows the social media battle between short-form video apps and TikTok's final triumph after its merger with Musical.ly. It offers never-before-seen insights into TikTok's new influencer ecosystem. And it charts the increasing superpower tech rivalry between China and the West which is posing questions about TikTok's safety. TikTok Boom's author Chris Stokel-Walker has interviewed scores of people connected to the world's hottest app, including current and former employees, and some of TikTok's biggest names in front of and behind the lens. He explores the culture of ByteDance and finds out what has happened to its founder, Yiming Zhang, as the Chinese Communist Party seeks to reel in the country's runaway tech industry. TikTok Boom is a nuanced, informed and incisive read on the characters and strategies behind the world's new tech order, in a gripping read that has won plaudits from technologists. It's rich peopled with characters. TikTok Boom is the essential book for anyone who wants to know what TikTok's success means for culture, technology, geopolitics, marketing and advertising. Find out where TikTok came from and where it's going. Find out how TikTok Works and whether it can work for you. Reviews 'A careful, detailed teardown of the people, culture and technology behind the world's most dynamic social network. It is rare for a business analysis to read like a thriller - this one does.' - Azeem Azhar, Founder, Exponential View 'It's clear that Stokel-Walker's strength is that he's not just TikTok-literate, he's TikTok-fluent. He knows the product, the people, and the entire ecosystem inside and out, and it is this familiarity that makes his telling so compelling, because he knows how to make you feel like you, too, are an insider in this strange new world.' - Rui Ma, founder, Tech Buzz China 'Blending journalistic narrative with state-of-the-art academic research, no other author comes close to weaving this epic tale of the rise of China's first global platform threatening Silicon's Valley hegemony while operating as inflection point around the rise of one globe two Internet systems. This is a must read for students, scholars, and policy makers.' - David Craig, Clinical Professor, USC Annenberg

'Essential reading.' - ESQUIRE 'Both absorbing and highly illuminating' - THE BOOKSELLER 'No one understands the intricacies of YouTube like Chris Stokel-Walker' - THE ATLANTIC Two billion people watch YouTube and it reaches deep into everyday lives. Its creators start new trends, popularise new songs and games and make and break new products. Yet while they are famous to billions of mostly young people, they mostly remain a mystery to the general public and mainstream media. What is the secret of their appeal? How do they cope with being in front of the lens - and who is behind their success? More than 100 insiders spoke candidly to teach journalist Chris Stokel-Walker for this first in-depth independent book on YouTube. YouTubers is the only book you need to understand YouTube, its ownership by Google, its deal for stars and its ecosystem of talent managers, advertisers and marketers. It is a richly-layered deep dive into YouTube brimming with lively characters, engaging facts, and influencer case studies. It is an ideal guide for any media studies students, advertisers, brand managers and business people who need to understand YouTube professionally. And for any non-fiction reader interested in a gripping business and technology saga dripping with big money, ruthlessness, determination and ambition. YouTubers starts by charting the platform's launch in a boring 19-second video of the elephant enclosure at San Diego Zoo - which has now had 242 million views. YouTubers then moves onto the first oddball videos before the site found success by showing comedy clips from the TV show Saturday Night Live. YouTubers reveals how YouTube saw off its emerging rivals in the online video battle of the 2000s and was bought by the search engine specialist Google. With Google's billions and boosted by smartphones, YouTube became the dominant video platform. Bloggers started to create engaging, fast-cut videos that capitalised on the intimate relationship between creator and user - a 'parasocial' relationship stronger than the bond between TV presenter and viewer. By ceaselessly urging their followers to tap the like, comment and subscribe buttons, these creators helped YouTube's rise to global domination. YouTubers speaks to YouTube stars KSI, Hank and John Green and delves into the lives of child star MattyB, the training camp for aspiring teenage bloggers, the YouTube stunts that go wrong and the increasing efforts of creators to earn money from Patreon. And it tackles the platform's Muslim extremism, red-pilling, and its content guidelines and censorship. YouTubers asks how YouTube can take on the threat from other big platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. In short, YouTubers tells the riveting story of the exponential growth of YouTube from single home video to global tech phenomenon. It is the only book you need on YouTube. Extract Introduction One spring afternoon Casey Neistat uploaded a video lasting five minutes and twenty-two seconds to YouTube. In the style of so many YouTubers, he looked straight into the camera and aired his opinion on a matter of importance. As the elder statesman on the platform, Neistat's words carry weight. He can make or break products and careers - and this video was no different. Seconds after he uploaded his video to YouTube via his superfast broadband at his creative headquarters in New York, it was available worldwide to four billion people: everyone on Earth with an internet connection. Millions of Neistat's subscribers instantly received a notification telling them that one of YouTube's most influential stars was again speaking directly to them. Across the world in apartment blocks, restaurants, bedrooms and bathrooms, phones pinged, buzzed and beeped. Hundreds of thousands of people instantly watched what Neistat had to say. Wearing dark glasses, his hair streaked blond, Neistat vented his frustration at the way the media was second-guessing the motivations of YouTubers... Buy the book to carry one reading