About this episode
This episode explores the phenomenon of lonelygirl15 and its impact on internet culture.
In the summer of 2006, a teenage girl began posting video diaries to a then-new site called YouTube under the handle lonelygirl15. Within weeks she was a phenomenon—even though no one knew the truth of who she really was. The frenzied quest to change that, to solve the mystery of lonelygirl15, would ultimately land her on the front page of newspapers and the covers of magazines. Twenty years on, lonelygirl15 is both an artifact of an earlier online era and an origin point for the internet as we know it: a place full of video diaries, parasocial relationships, influencers, hyper-engaged fandoms, and the knowledge that you can’t always believe your eyes. In this episode, you’ll hear from some of the people who investigated lonelygirl15 way back in 2006: culture critic Virginia Heffernan, who writes the Substack Magic + Loss and co-hosts the podcast Omnishambles ; entertainment journalist Richard Rushfield of The Ankler ; producer Jenni Powell ; and one-time cybersleuth Chris Patterson . We also speak with the people involved in making lonelygirl15: Miles Beckett , Mesh Flinders , Jessica Rose Phillipps, and Amanda Goodfried. This episode was written by Willa Paskin and Evan Chung…
People in this episode
Host: Willa Paskin
Guests: Virginia Heffernan, Richard Rushfield, Jenni Powell, Chris Patterson, Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders, Jessica Rose Phillipps, Amanda Goodfried
Topics covered
- internet culture
- YouTube history
- lonelygirl15
- video diaries
- parasocial relationships
- influencers
Keywords
- lonelygirl15
- YouTube
- video diaries
- internet history
- influencers
- parasocial relationships
- online culture
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Slate Podcasts, Panic World
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