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All statements about Facebook

182 statements about Facebook in 100 videos, by upload date.

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2007

2008

  • 2008-03-21 (said on 2008-03-22, implied) · Twitter After School Time — Hank argues Twitter is not for telling anyone how you are but for defining yourself through the self the internet lets you create across many platforms. (hedged) — 00:01:39
  • 2008-09-04 · Paper Towns Tour Dates! — announcement: John announces an October 16 New York launch party for Paper Towns' release with Hank, their parents, the Yeti, Maureen Johnson and other authors; Julia Nunes is floated as a 'rumor'. — 00:01:12
  • 2008-09-04 · Paper Towns Tour Dates! — announcement: John announces the Paper Towns tour stops from October 17 to 30: Boston, Indianapolis, Columbus, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Chicago suburbs and city, Phoenix, Seattle, San Francisco, and a Nerdfighter Halloween party in Los Angeles. — 00:01:43
  • 2008-09-21 · The Pwning of Oprah — announcement: John says details of the Paper Towns tour dates are starting to be posted at eventful.com. — 00:03:15
  • 2008-09-23 · Paper Towns and Touring Question Tuesday — announcement: John says the events are entirely free and open to the public, and tickets are not needed except in a couple of cases. — 00:01:41
  • 2008-09-23 · Paper Towns and Touring Question Tuesday — announcement: John says Julia Nunes will not be at the New York event but will be at the Boston event. — 00:02:10
  • 2008-09-25 (said on 2008-09-24, implied) · Obama llama Duck — announcement: Hank says he and John have almost finished the Paper Towns tour dates; a tour list with RSVPs will soon be at sparksflyup.com (John's site) and nerdfighters.com. — 00:02:08
  • 2008-10-06 · Berlin and Let it Snow (in Your Pants) — announcement: John: With Hank's help, all Paper Towns and Nerdfighting Tour events are now on Facebook with up-to-date information; Eventful.com, now their 'mortal enemy', is dropped. — 00:02:20
  • 2008-10-06 · Berlin and Let it Snow (in Your Pants) — ask: John asks viewers to find the tour events listed on Nerdfighters.com, RSVP and invite their friends. — 00:02:20
  • 2008-10-08 (said on 2008-10-07, implied) · Hanks actual Vlog — announcement: Hank has coloured Karen's map and put it on PaperTowns.com: each city links to its Facebook event page, and the brothers' heads to their Facebook profiles. — 00:01:33
  • 2008-10-08 (said on 2008-10-07, implied) · Hanks actual Vlog — Hank is thinking of a text version of the map for Nerdfighters not on Facebook; he won't make anyone join, and though resistant at first, now finds Facebook compelling. (hedged) — 00:01:56
  • 2008-10-09 · Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow — announcement: Hank says the brothers will be at the New York City launch event, viewers can RSVP on Facebook via papertowns.com, and he hopes to see many across the US through November. — 00:02:48
  • 2008-10-11 (said on 2008-10-10, implied) · Question Friday — announcement: John: At the Nerdfighter gatherings, John says, songs will be sung, Paper Towns read, books discussed, questions answered and stuff signed. — 00:02:37
  • 2008-10-11 (said on 2008-10-10, implied) · Question Friday — announcement: John will sign books other than Paper Towns on tour, anything except skin. — 00:03:15
  • 2008-10-11 (said on 2008-10-10, implied) · Question Friday — announcement: John will see Hank in real life at the Paper Towns release party on Thursday. — 00:03:15
  • 2008-10-16 (said on 2008-10-15, implied) · Paper Towns Collab Album Project!!! — ask: Hank: First condition for the album: make a picture of yourself with Paper Towns your MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and every other profile picture. — 00:00:58
  • 2008-10-17 · Vital Status Report from NYC — John reports from the Paper Towns release party with Liane from the Five Awesome Girls, his agent Jodi, Hank's wife Katherine, and Alex and Charlie from London. — 00:00:00
  • 2008-10-17 · Vital Status Report from NYC — Hank says he is now in Boston before another Nerdfighter event and will soon see John at dinner with their parents and cousin. — 00:03:02
  • 2008-10-21 (said on 2008-10-20, implied) · Travel Tips, Delivered Hoarsely — John, on the Paper Towns tour, is in Columbus, Ohio, super tired after a long day of touring. — 00:00:00
  • 2008-10-21 (said on 2008-10-20, implied) · Travel Tips, Delivered Hoarsely — John tells Hank he is awesome: the two days they just spent together in New York and Boston were the most awesome of his life. (playful) — 00:00:33
  • 2008-10-21 (said on 2008-10-20, implied) · Travel Tips, Delivered Hoarsely — announcement: John: Later this week (week of 20 October 2008) John will be in Atlanta, where the show starts at 6, not 6:30 (people should probably come early), then Miami, Orlando and Naperville. (hedged) — 00:01:02
  • 2008-10-21 (said on 2008-10-20, implied) · Travel Tips, Delivered Hoarsely — ask: John says everyone should come to the Naperville event, which will be big, fun and awesome. — 00:01:02
  • 2008-10-21 (said on 2008-10-20, implied) · Travel Tips, Delivered Hoarsely — announcement: John will also do a smaller Saturday 4 p.m. event at a bookstore in Lincoln Square, Chicago, giving tickets to the first 45 people who email. — 00:01:02
  • 2008-10-21 (said on 2008-10-20, implied) · Travel Tips, Delivered Hoarsely — announcement: John will stream every event on BlogTV for the rest of the tour, for Hank and nerdfighters who cannot attend. — 00:02:42
  • 2008-10-21 (said on 2008-10-20, implied) · Travel Tips, Delivered Hoarsely — announcement: John: Nerdfighter gift exchange: gifts nerdfighters give the tour will be passed on to nerdfighters at the next stop, keeping John's luggage carry-on. — 00:02:42
  • 2008-10-21 · Lonesome Cloud — Hank wishes John a good time in Melbourne, Florida the next day. — 00:03:43
  • 2008-10-22 · Punish Hank? Save Hank? YOU DECIDE. — John: Students at Vero Beach High School gave John a shirt with all the things he loves on it. — 00:00:00
  • 2008-10-22 · Punish Hank? Save Hank? YOU DECIDE. — announcement: John hopes to see nerdfighters tonight in Miami, tomorrow in Orlando or on Friday in Naperville, Illinois. — 00:03:43
  • 2008-10-24 · Talking to Myself — Hank: John told Hank the Florida nerdfighter event had a fantastic atmosphere; Hank's best friend from high school and John's elementary-school best friends were there. — 00:02:27
  • 2008-10-24 · IRON MAN BLOGTV CHALLENGE! — ask: Hank invites viewers who want to be his Facebook friend, and give him something to do during the challenge, to go to the Paper Towns site and click on his head. — 00:01:17
  • 2008-10-24 · Paper Towns MOVIE1!!!11! — John says hanging out with 200 Nerdfighters last night, with hundreds more watching on BlogTV, is the nicest gift he has ever been given. (hedged) — 00:01:50
  • 2008-10-28 (said on 2008-10-27, implied) · Early Voting with Hank — announcement: Hank says he flies to Seattle tomorrow, where he will see John and many Nerdfighters, and urges people near Seattle to come. — 00:00:44
  • 2008-10-28 (said on 2008-10-27, implied) · Early Voting with Hank — announcement: Hank says John then goes on alone: Menlo Park on the 29th and a final Paper Towns Halloween special on October 30th for anyone in the western United States. — 00:00:44
  • 2008-10-28 · The Unzipped Zipper (Of Your Pants) — announcement: John says he will see Hank in a few minutes at the Seattle Public Library. — 00:03:52
  • 2008-10-30 (said on 2008-10-29, implied) · Hank is Late (dr horrible) — Hank and Katherine just got back from the Seattle event; Hank thanks the Nerdfighters there and thinks the library never had a bigger crowd. (hedged) — 00:00:54
  • 2008-10-31 (said on 2008-10-30, implied) · Show 'n Tell Thursday — John devotes Show and Tell Thursday to real presents Nerdfighters gave him on his tour, of two kinds: related to his book, and related to Nerdfighters. — 00:00:00

2009

  • 2009-03-18 · Dr. Manhattan's Dangle and Brain Crack — Hank admits he created a Facebook fan page for Dr. Manhattan's dong yesterday, became a fan, and sings a short ditty about it. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2009-05-26 · A Message to the Class of 2009 — Hank says their real advantage is not knowing Facebook or 4chan, which is how to explain it to elders, but a completely different perception of how the world works. — 00:01:04
  • 2009-08-06 (said on 2009-08-05, implied) · Robert Pattinson and DJ Railstone — John and other Nerdfighters, in a BlogTV room, invented DJ Paige Railstone's identity, history and career; Alan made a website, Karen Kavett photos, plus Twitter and Facebook pages. — 00:01:49

Also named in: DFTBA, Saturday Video?!?!?!

2010

  • 2010-02-24 · JOHN GREEN IS FAT. — John says a Facebook group called 'John Green Is Fat', founded in November 2009, collects every picture of him looking as fat as possible; he calls it one of the great Facebook groups. (playful) — 00:00:58
  • 2010-05-31 · Farmville!!!!! A Song — Hank: In the song, a narrator who discovered FarmVille on Facebook prefers its adorable farm, where the sky is always blue and animals never die, to real life. (satire) — 00:00:24
  • 2010-09-11 (said on 2010-09-10, implied) · Giant Baby Attack — John says they both have thousands of outstanding Facebook friend requests because Facebook allows only 5,000 friends. — 00:01:52
  • 2010-09-11 (said on 2010-09-10, implied) · Giant Baby Attack — John says Facebook does not understand the internet. (playful) — 00:02:03
  • 2010-09-11 (said on 2010-09-10, implied) · Giant Baby Attack — Hank adds that Facebook does not understand Nerdfighteria. (playful) — 00:02:05
  • 2010-09-11 (said on 2010-09-10, implied) · Giant Baby Attack — announcement: John announces that the brothers have changed their Facebook profiles to pages that can have more than 5,000 friends, so viewers can now connect; link in the description. — 00:02:07
  • 2010-10-29 · Hank Has Questions — Hank just got Fable III; before buying it he asked Nerdfighteria on Facebook and Twitter whether he should, given he'd likely be unproductive for weeks, and the overwhelming answer was yes. — 00:01:27
  • 2010-12-01 · Makin' Babies: A Song — announcement: Hank shows a new end screen the brothers are thinking of using: the left side (shirts, Truth or Fail) will change, while previous/next, subscribe, Twitter and Facebook stay; he asks for opinions. (hedged) — 00:03:03
  • 2010-12-31 · Is Lady Gaga a Man? — Hank reports that after 'is Facebook down', the second most common Google question starting with 'is' is 'is Lady Gaga a man?', and answers for everyone: no. (playful) — 00:00:39

2011

  • 2011-02-11 · 200 People in Your Pants — Hank and his team worked all day and late into the night on Your Pants, including integrating Facebook; he is very tired from coding CSS and hacking it. — 00:00:02
  • 2011-02-11 · 200 People in Your Pants — Hank: The Your Pants Facebook application produces messages like 'Are you sure you want to remove Your Pants?', which Hank says sounds like a bad text-based romance simulator. (playful) — 00:00:10
  • 2011-11-28 · Stuffed with STUFF! — ask: Hank invites viewers to submit VidCon ideas and questions through a page on VidCon's Facebook, promising to answer the questions. — 00:01:57
  • 2011-12-23 · There Will Be NO SPOILERS!!! — John: As word spread, more and more Nerdfighters on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook pledged not to read the book before January 10, or not to spoil it for the majority who receive it then. — 00:01:52

2012

  • 2012-04-13 (said on 2012-04-14, implied) · This is How You Load a Dishwasher - A Song — Hank says The Oatmeal's Matthew Inman posted a comic on getting Facebook likes that suggests making a sing-along video on how to load a dishwasher, so he makes one. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2012-04-17 · Thoughts on Romance and Sex in an Airport — John says never having kissed anyone in college is not weird, citing that this was the most thumbed-up question of the hundreds he got on Facebook. — 00:03:02
  • 2012-04-20 · Thoughts on Growing up — Hank thanks John for his well-received video answering questions on sex and relationships; out of sibling rivalry he answers Facebook and Twitter questions on adulthood and growing up. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2012-05-22 · You ARE The Product — John praises Hank's Friday video explaining Facebook's IPO and stock markets, which ended by asking how a free service he will never pay for is worth $100 billion; John answers that question. — 00:00:00
  • 2012-05-22 · You ARE The Product — John says Facebook isn't actually worth $100 billion, but whatever it is worth is because of its users; it could 'MySpace' tomorrow and be worth nothing. (doubtful: a hundred billion dollars) — 00:00:50
  • 2012-05-22 · You ARE The Product — John says this dependence means companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter and Tumblr have to listen to their users, which is good. — 00:00:59
  • 2012-05-22 · You ARE The Product — John explains that users' uploads draw other people in, who upload more and draw more, and that uploads tell Facebook what you are tempted to buy so it can encourage you. — 00:01:11
  • 2012-05-22 · You ARE The Product — John says everyone using Facebook, Twitter, Google or Angry Birds has agreed to be commodified: not necessarily a bad decision, but one to make thoughtfully and consciously. — 00:02:15
  • 2012-06-19 · Solving Your Problems! — announcement: John, also an older Nerdfighter, says he has created a Facebook group for older Nerdfighters so they feel less alone. — 00:03:10
  • 2012-06-19 · Solving Your Problems! — recommendation: John: To find local Nerdfighters, John points to Facebook, the Ning and Your Pants, where there are many location-specific Nerdfighter groups. (playful) — 00:03:16
  • 2012-09-18 (said on 2012-09-16, implied) · Existential Airport Anxiety — John: Recalling Montag's line about walls yelling at him, John says we literally live in a world of shouty walls, and his phone holds billions of voices on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook. — 00:01:01
  • 2012-12-11 · Economics and Dentistry: YOUTUBE'S FAVORITE TOPICS — John says Nerdfighteria used to be a YouTube-based phenomenon but now has many places, listing Minecrafteria, Facebook groups, the Ning, Our Pants, Reddit, Tumblr and Kiva, and probably more. — 00:00:58

2013

  • 2013-01-25 · How to Make Friends — Hank says studies of friendship count not Facebook friends but people you can share intimate things about your brokenness with: on average two to three per person. — 00:00:29
  • 2013-05-24 · What's Up with Start Ups — Hank says buyers are not paying for revenue or even potential revenue: what is valued is the user who spends time on the site; he spends time, not money, on Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr. — 00:00:42
  • 2013-05-28 · NERD FACTOR! (...And Why I Fear for Tumblr) — John wants a broader internet and worries that Tumblr, Facebook and even YouTube can support that breadth only as long as they are willing to lose money. — 00:00:59
  • 2013-11-08 · VidCon, Punishments, Comments, and Pumpkins — announcement: Hank: VidCon now has a Tumblr, vidconblr.tumblr.com, and is on Twitter and Facebook to answer questions. — 00:01:22

2014

  • 2014-11-12 · The History of Pizza John! — Hank recounts that in 2010 the brothers did shows on BlogTV, a now-defunct live-streaming platform; busy John often ate during them, and Nerdfighters mocked him with a Facebook group of pictures of John eating. — 00:00:38

Also named in: Going to College (in Ethiopia)

2015

  • 2015-02-13 · Draw My Life + 16 Other Suggestions — Hank says that, with nothing pressing to make a video about, he turned this one over to the Nerdfighters of Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Reddit to decide what he would do. — 00:00:01
  • 2015-03-13 · Screaming Into Pillows — Hank tells Nerdfighteria they are really important in his life, so it feels wrong not to talk about important things happening to him, on video or social media. — 00:00:59
  • 2015-03-20 · A Sacrifice of Individuality and the Internets — Hank says the internet enabled crowdfunding (Patreon, Indiegogo, Kickstarter), crowdsourcing that built Wikipedia, and the wisdom of the crowd: upvotes on Reddit and choices on YouTube and Facebook that help curate content. — 00:01:01
  • 2015-05-22 · 15 Rants in Four Minutes — Hank says people who can't stop looking at their phones shouldn't go to movies at all rather than check Facebook on a bright phone there. (playful) — 00:00:59
  • 2015-09-25 · Pissed Off for a Better World — ask: Hank asks viewers who promote the Global Goals to use the hashtags #globalgoals and #nfgg so the brothers can see what they're up to, and maybe retweet or share it. — video description
  • 2015-09-25 · Pissed Off for a Better World — ask: Hank tells viewers to get angry: choose the Global Goal that resonates most, draw it on their face with eyeliner or Sharpie, and share it on Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. — 00:01:52
  • 2015-09-25 · Pissed Off for a Better World — ask: Hank hopes whoever is watching will be inspired to share this with the people around them and in their community. (hedged) — 00:03:22

2016

  • 2016-06-17 · Hey, Let's Change Some Things — ask: Hank invites letter writers to share their letters with him on Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr with a hashtag or tag, and to thank others who sent letters. — 00:03:09
  • 2016-06-24 (said on 2016-06-21, implied) · Questions (and Announcements) from VidCon — Hank thanks everyone who did his homework assignment: he got many letters on Snapchat, Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. — 00:03:27
  • 2016-09-13 · YouTube's New Thing (and a New Thing of Our Own) — John says they have always had to build homes off YouTube for non-video community stuff: Art Assignment submissions go via other sites, Crash Course lacks worksheets, and P4A needs social media. — 00:01:19

Also named in: Redefining What it Means to Matter

2017

  • 2017-01-06 · Too Excited about Pears! (Question Tuesday with Hank) — announcement: Hank says answering even one hard question on Vlogbrothers takes too long for a Question Tuesday, so he might edit his hard-question answers into smaller videos for Twitter, Facebook or Hankschannel if he has time. (hedged) — video description
  • 2017-01-06 · Too Excited about Pears! (Question Tuesday with Hank) — Hank says he asked people on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to ask him hard questions. — 00:00:16
  • 2017-03-21 · My Information Diet — John thinks Twitter and Facebook are useful, important and in pockets beautiful, and he has benefited a lot, but most of the time his feeling on the social internet is 'ahhh'. (hedged) — 00:00:35
  • 2017-03-21 · My Information Diet — John: On a friend's advice, a month later after an egregious bout of twittering, John made his phone a dumb phone: no Twitter, Facebook, email or Reddit, and he deleted Pokémon Go, breaking his son's heart. — 00:00:49
  • 2017-04-18 · Framing — John says making videos, even ones without your face, is often a kind of self-portraiture, as are your Twitter and Facebook: it is you, but framed. — 00:01:50
  • 2017-04-21 · The Adpocalypse: What it Means — Hank says no one will leave YouTube until someone does both things better; Facebook does only one, yet people post there like crazy. — 00:00:31
  • 2017-04-21 · The Adpocalypse: What it Means — Hank says YouTube has shared revenue with creators for 10 years while Facebook has not, building an ecosystem of creators who earn some money without much headache. — 00:00:39
  • 2017-05-30 · What Should We Keep? — John says Facebook and Instagram will likely be around for decades, if not centuries, and many people back up their work and photos to the cloud. (hedged) — 00:02:26
  • 2017-06-13 · Cheyenne, Wyoming — announcement: John: In the end screen John says he made a Google-sponsored video on his Facebook page about being internet kind, recalling his early online life in the 1990s. — 00:02:59
  • 2017-12-01 · Let's Talk About Stress! — Hank says flight is reading about linguistics or going on Twitter or Facebook, and asks what fighting is, since he can't punch his email inbox. — 00:02:08

2018

  • 2018-01-09 · Your Attention — John thinks that is true not only of Twitter but of YouTube, Facebook, Reddit and so on. (hedged) — 00:00:28
  • 2018-01-09 · Your Attention — John says Twitter is structured not to make us better informed or happier but to keep us on Twitter, and the same is true of Facebook, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and cable news. — 00:02:30
  • 2018-02-20 · When Your Friend Runs for Governor — announcement: John says he and Daniel will do a Facebook Live event this Thursday (22 February 2018) at 1pm Eastern, where John will ask questions and viewers can too. — 00:03:42
  • 2018-04-13 · Who is in Control? — The description says Facebook is in crisis now, but platforms' control over us has been at crisis levels for some time; Hank's biggest concern is that this is only the beginning. — video description
  • 2018-04-13 · Who is in Control? — Hank: Through a failing in Facebook policy and enforcement, Cambridge Analytica built psychological profiles of tens of millions of Facebook users. — 00:01:24
  • 2018-04-13 · Who is in Control? — Hank: This broke Facebook's rules but no laws, because the US has so few laws regulating these companies. — 00:01:47
  • 2018-04-13 · Who is in Control? — Hank: Facebook doesn't want anyone else to have your data, because your data is its most valuable asset. — 00:01:53
  • 2018-04-13 · Who is in Control? — Hank: Facebook is worth half a trillion dollars because it can capture your attention and because of what it knows about you. — 00:02:16
  • 2018-04-13 · Who is in Control? — Hank: Facebook isn't the product being sold, since it is free: you are not the customer but the product, and on the social internet your attention is their dollars. — 00:02:43
  • 2018-04-13 · Who is in Control? — Hank: Some will dig into these issues, but most people won't have time; and we need Facebook, which is socially expected, necessary and useful, so we're trapped. — 00:03:08
  • 2018-04-27 · Finding Respite in 2018 — Hank asked Twitter and Facebook for great things he might be missing and offers a list of sources of respite from other people and his own brain. — 00:01:51
  • 2018-07-03 · How Does This End? — John asks whether that is how things end online, still present but relevant only as nostalgia, and whether it will happen to Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. (speculative) — 00:00:52
  • 2018-11-06 · Taking a Year Off — John spends something like 20 hours a week on Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and Twitter, mostly scrolling and skimming, and his attention has become extremely fractured. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • 2018-11-06 · Taking a Year Off — John thinks many people use these platforms productively and fulfillingly, and that they connect people and give more people a voice in public discourse. (hedged) — 00:00:58
  • 2018-11-06 · Taking a Year Off — John's first problem: he lacks the willpower to resist the allure of Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and Twitter. — 00:01:27
  • 2018-11-06 · Taking a Year Off — announcement: John will take a year off: he will block Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and Twitter from his browsers and truly dumb down his phone so he cannot access them. — 00:02:26
  • 2018-11-06 · Taking a Year Off — announcement: John: The year off starts next month (December 2018) when the Project for Awesome ends; on YouTube things stay much the same, with a Vlogbrothers video every week. — 00:02:55
  • 2018-11-06 · Taking a Year Off — ask: John asks viewers who have tried a version of this, or have tips for him, to tell him. — 00:03:24

2019

  • 2019-01-01 · How to Make Goals, Not Resolutions — announcement: John: As discussed in a previous video, John aims to post zero times to Twitter, Reddit, Instagram and Facebook; easy in principle, but he is worried he can't do it. — 00:02:17
  • 2019-01-08 · I Quit Social Media. Here's How It's Going — John: Tomorrow John will be one month into his year without social media; he left the platforms because he couldn't regulate his time or experience there and checked his phone hundreds of times a day. — 00:00:03
  • 2019-01-08 · I Quit Social Media. Here's How It's Going — John learned that, without being aware of it, he typed Reddit, Twitter and Facebook into a web browser dozens of times a day. — 00:00:58
  • 2019-01-08 · I Quit Social Media. Here's How It's Going — announcement: John will stay off social media for the rest of the year; he doesn't know that he recommends it generally, but it is necessary for him to discover what lies beyond boredom. — 00:03:30
  • 2019-01-29 · Do You Believe in Miracles? — announcement: The description says John adapted recent vlogbrothers videos into a Washington Post op-ed about his experience quitting social media. — video description
  • 2019-02-19 · Battling Apathy and Searching for Meaning on Question Tuesday — John: Off social media, John says he treated Instagram and Twitter like first love, as if an experience's realness depended on its sharedness; he enjoys looking at things outside the frame of shareability. — 00:00:29
  • 2019-03-05 · Way, Way Down the Rabbit Hole — John says the Life's Library news is something he would have tweeted, but he doesn't have Twitter. — 00:03:24
  • 2019-04-23 · untitled — John: Still off Twitter, John says he wanted it only a few times in the last month, mostly to fret over football and to share Kaveh Akbar's new poem. — 00:03:21
  • 2019-11-07 · I took a year off social media. Here's what happened. — John says that about 11 months ago he decided to take a year away from Twitter, Reddit, Instagram and Facebook, and gives an update on how it has gone. — 00:00:00
  • 2019-11-07 · I took a year off social media. Here's what happened. — John likes his life much more now: his average daily phone time has fallen by more than 80% and he is getting more work done. — 00:01:27
  • 2019-11-07 · I took a year off social media. Here's what happened. — announcement: John is not going back to Twitter, Reddit, Instagram or Facebook, not because they are evil but because right now they don't work for him; he is happier and more productive without them. — 00:02:15
  • 2019-12-10 · On Loneliness — John: Quitting the social internet helped his loneliness, since he used those platforms unhealthily, in superficial connection that left him feeling deeply alone. — 00:03:09
  • 2019-12-17 · The Best Days of My Decade — John: Hank long supported John's writing: when Paper Towns came out in 2008, Hank and Katherine toured libraries and bookstores with him in a rented minivan, Hank singing and playing a turtle professor or sock puppet. — 00:02:27

2020

  • 2020-01-07 · Endings · Beginnings — John also wants to continue not losing large swaths of his life scrolling through Twitter as dread washes over him. — 00:03:09
  • 2020-01-14 · Foolish · Beautiful — John asks Hank whether he should go back to his sports Twitter account, @sportswithjohn, rather than regular Twitter. — 00:03:11
  • 2020-07-07 · You're a Rock Star — John: Hank's first book, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, was the main reason John quit using the social internet in 2018. — 00:01:56
  • 2020-08-28 · Break the Mold — Hank says Facebook is also a big media player, yet he spends about 15 minutes a month there; his posts there are just reposted tweets. — 00:00:29
  • 2020-08-28 · Break the Mold — Hank grants TikTok has problems but questions whether it is more of a security concern than Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. — 00:00:46
  • 2020-10-07 (said on 2020-10-06, implied) · The Golden Age of Vlogbrothers — John loves making a video every Tuesday and seeing nerdfighter groups flourish from Facebook to Reddit to Discord. — 00:01:56
  • 2020-10-13 (said on 2020-10-05, implied) · Me from the Past: A Pizzamas Miracle — John: On 5 October 2020, among vague predictions that are always accurate, John predicts Twitter, Reddit and Facebook will be dumpster fires he can't stop refreshing unless he physically leaves the internet. (playful) — 00:02:26

Also named in: So Much to Do, America's Capital of Dead Vice Presidents

2021

  • 2021-01-15 · Influencers and Insurrectionists — The description says Facebook, Fox News and Trump, blamed separately for radicalization, increasingly feel like the same thing: each informs the others in a loop, Trump being the essence of a conservative radio host. — video description
  • 2021-01-15 · Influencers and Insurrectionists — Hank: Seeing phones held up during the siege of the Capitol, Hank sees insurrectionists, terrorists and white supremacists who are also influencers and content creators: the same people. — 00:01:40
  • 2021-06-04 · Is Twitter Redeemable? — Hank notes John, not very active on Twitter, is a little more active than he used to be, and welcomes him back. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank: During Facebook's outage a tweet claiming Facebook might be gone got 400,000 likes and retweets; Hank says it rested on a misunderstanding of how websites work. — 00:00:00
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — In a comment Hank says that by Facebook he mostly means any algorithmically controlled content platform. — creator comment
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank: Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen released a trove of documents of Facebook research on itself, which found it was not great; Hank says Facebook promptly ignored and kind of hid that research. — 00:00:58
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says many people depend on Facebook for their businesses, social lives, families and loved ones abroad, so those gleefully celebrating its outage are not the best guides. — 00:01:13
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says 15 years ago, when Justin Timberlake was bringing sexy back, Facebook was only for high school and college students; now it is the sixth most valuable corporation and possibly the most influential. — 00:01:56
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says Facebook's internal research has shown it can affect people's moods, and that it can inform or misinform, and make communities thrive or vanish, not for 60,000 people like Missoula but for billions. — 00:02:15
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank: A coalition of European politicians wrote to Facebook that its platform forces them into more extreme positions than they or their constituents want, to win the attention and engagement game. — 00:02:50
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says platforms, viewers and he himself are all bad at this: it is a revolution in human-to-human communication and a baby, with no systems yet for many-to-many decentralized communication. — 00:04:55
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says it is easy to say Facebook sucks, which he does all the time, but much harder to imagine how to make it better. — 00:06:16
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says Facebook is going to keep existing; Zuckerberg pulling the plug would be a 'hundo P baller move' but seems unlikely. — 00:06:23
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says Zuckerberg has many incentives to believe Facebook does more good than harm, so he will probably believe it whether or not it is true, which Hank does not know. (hedged) — 00:06:37
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank's model of Facebook has three power centers: people who consume content, people who create it, and Facebook, which hosts and promotes it. — 00:07:06
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says the three groups' incentives align well, which is how Facebook became worth a trillion dollars. — 00:07:28
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says creators want their numbers to go up for status or money; it feels good, and divorcing self-worth from internet numbers takes much work; Facebook supplies feedback that rewards making content. — 00:07:35
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank: Users and creators are dispersed and uncontrollable, but Facebook is centralized and makes $85 billion a year, a more attractive and controllable target for regulators. — 00:10:47
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says Facebook's statement asking lawmakers to act is a good point, but it amounts to 'you fix it', with no advice or insight offered, shifting responsibility to them. — 00:11:45
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says Facebook is not just a place where content goes: it decides what people see, making millions of decisions per second about the world people experience. — 00:12:32
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says Facebook is saying 'tell us what to do', fearing that doing more than the minimum would get its ability to act regulated away, so until then it focuses on profit. — 00:14:08
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says Facebook will ask to be regulated but fight every individual regulation tooth and nail. — 00:14:58
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says it is easier for legislators to yell that Facebook sucks than to write legislation that improves it, and shouting makes them and constituents feel righteously superior. (playful) — 00:15:11
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says Facebook is kind of both corporation and government: it is in charge of the part of your life spent there, which it would like people not to realize. — 00:15:48
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank: The real danger and power of platforms is not hosting but deciding what gets new eyeballs; promoting is an active editorial decision by the company, even when made by an algorithm. — 00:16:18
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank agrees only in a limited way that Facebook is responsible for content it hosts (hate speech, illegal content), but believes much more that it should be held responsible for what it promotes. — 00:17:33
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank: To respected people who say regulating social media means regulating society, Hank replies that Facebook already regulates society, with a narrow, short-term focus on ad money. — 00:19:04
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank thinks we won't educate people out of responding to fear and indulging righteous superiority, though there are some signs that maybe immunities kick in; but Facebook cannot be called bad only because humans make bad decisions. — 00:19:28
  • 2021-10-07 · We're Thinking About Facebook Wrong — Hank says it would be very hard for Facebook to make a profit in a world completely ripped apart by Facebook. — 00:20:20
  • 2021-10-15 · What is Pizzamas? ...and a New Friend — Hank worked very hard on his Facebook video: sitting, staring, researching, writing, much editing and forgetting lunch. — 00:01:56

2023

2024

  • 2024-01-05 · I'm Scared of 2024...So Here's 3 Optimistic Thoughts — Hank blames the culture-war talk and nationalism on the disintegration of the media landscape, caused by platforms like TikTok, Facebook and YouTube maximizing time on platform, where moral outrage sticks best. — 00:01:32
  • 2024-01-05 · I'm Scared of 2024...So Here's 3 Optimistic Thoughts — Hank's first optimistic thought: unlike content platforms, which met much optimism and little pushback, generative AI is not being allowed to have its way with us. — 00:02:02
  • 2024-03-26 · I Own Danaher — John notes negative publicity for Danaher in the Washington Post and on Threads, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, including a lower-your-test-prices Flappy Bird he finds utterly addictive. (playful) — 00:03:54
  • 2024-08-02 · My Letter to the Future — Hank predicts Americans in 100 years will not know what Twitter was and barely know Facebook or TikTok, but will still carry phones and watch YouTube videos. — 00:03:20
  • 2024-08-07 · Dear Hank and John Livestream! — Hank, citing his video last week (week of 29 July 2024), says he is convinced YouTube is not past its prime. — 00:15:05
  • 2024-08-07 · Dear Hank and John Livestream! — John agrees YouTube is probably the only social platform with that solidity; he feels Facebook, Twitter and especially TikTok crumbling, Instagram maybe more solid. (hedged) — 00:15:05
  • 2024-08-27 · How The Internet Is Rigged — John: Agreeing with Hank's Friday video, John says YouTube differs from TikTok, Reddit, Facebook and Instagram, which take content, monetize it and give users only an audience and karma. — 00:04:06
  • 2024-11-13 · Some New Things… — Hank says an email via their agent offered a podcast with a big host; on a pre-call he added an email address as manager of his Facebook page, and it was a scam. — 00:01:46
  • 2024-11-13 · Some New Things… — John contrasts Hank's broad scam, aimed at getting bitcoin for Facebook accounts, with when the Russian government came directly for them, got all their emails and chose not to release them. — 00:30:15
  • 2024-11-13 · Some New Things… — Hank says a cybersecurity expert on Bluesky explained such scams ask you later to add an event; his caller said they would ask that in a couple of days, so it was a two-step scam stopped at step one. — 00:39:21
  • 2024-11-22 · Populism, Media Revolutions, and Our Terrible Moment — Hank contrasts a reporter's six months and a bureaucrat's four years with RFK Jr., who would attack the FDA across platforms and podcasts within a day, prioritizing views. (playful) — 00:17:27

2025

  • 2025-06-24 · Am I Cigarettes? — John did quit for a couple of years, a very productive time in some ways, but he missed the connection and the high. — 00:03:40
  • 2025-10-06 · The Web is Going to Die — Hank says that someday we will have moved on from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram; he doesn't know to what, but unlike London or Detroit they will not simply evolve. — 00:04:23

2026

  • 2026-01-30 · Has Anyone Ever Accidentally Seen me Naked (Question Tuesday on a Friday) — Hank predicts a reversal of fortune for content platforms: in a thousand years Facebook will at most be mentioned in a history book, a relic like gasoline cars. — 00:03:54
  • 2026-06-05 · The Things We Don't Discuss — Hank says Facebook began inflating view counts around 2014, a scandal then, though now everyone accepts it. (hedged) — 00:03:59
  • 2026-09-18 · John was Wrong about YouTube Views — Hank says that as early as 2015 he wrote a widely circulated post, which made him enemies, about how Facebook was counting views. — 00:01:27
  • 2026-09-18 · John was Wrong about YouTube Views — Hank says Facebook counted views far faster than YouTube, making posters think they got more views, so companies went all in on Facebook, which with other things led to bad outcomes. — 00:02:01
  • 2026-09-18 · John was Wrong about YouTube Views — Hank says YouTube now counts views the way Instagram, TikTok and Facebook always have: any information from the video rather than text and thumbnail. — 00:05:25
  • 2026-10-30 · The Last Normal Year — Hank says the share of Americans over 65 who were online and on Facebook rose from 48% in 2015 to 62% in 2016: the last demographic to join the internet was piling on and experiencing the feed. — 00:02:28
  • 2026-10-30 · The Last Normal Year — Hank says early in 2016 mainstream outlets' top election content far outperformed misinformation, but in the election's last three months top fake stories on Facebook got more views, shares and comments than major outlets' top stories. — 00:02:28
  • 2026-10-30 · The Last Normal Year — Hank says AI controls what we see: not LLMs, though they are increasingly part of it, but AI decides which YouTube thumbnails we see, what is in our Threads, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds, and what comes next when swiping. — 00:07:09