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“next-generation Internet where people contribute as easily as they consume.”

Under Schmidt’s new orders, YouTube began slapping more commercials on the site and hiring more “monetization” engineers. Walk once greeted one tartly, “What are you doing to ruin my user experience today?”

Google had a voracious appetite for innovation and, like others in Silicon Valley, sensed that TV, film, and home videos were moving online, a trend that the company had to seize to remain relevant in decades to come. Only, it wasn’t sure how.

they should just get their site out into the world; they could “figure out where we are going down the road.”

At YouTube Stats, a meeting Mehrotra held every Friday, they presented the befuddling results: the machines found a way to show more ads and improve watch time.

Zappin ran his enterprise from his gut, freewheeling and unscientific, the polar opposite of Google.

he wore loose polos and enjoyed the sound of his own voice.

five seconds of footage, a mini-movie. In his old dorm room Wong had struck one-hit viral gold, but these days YouTube felt like a place where dedicated posting could bring in dedicated audiences. YouTube’s algorithms and money could reward the time and energy sunk into their mini-movies—at least for now.

Once, after noticing how often visitors conversed with one another through video, Chen ordered up a new feature on a Friday. Over the weekend coders created a simple button to add a video response posted beneath another. Uploaders then flooded popular clips with replies to get attention.