The Content Mines

Ryan was in London so we did a little recording session out in a park last week. We wanted to talk about something other than Twitter and AI, but, let’s be real. That’s all we talked about. Also, perhaps most …

Well, all good things must come to an end. Also, this podcast. At least for a while. We’re going on indefinite hiatus! So this will be our last episode for a while. Why is this happening? A combination of reasons, which …

This week we’re talking about ChatGPT, the text-based A.I. that everyone loves sharing screenshots of right now. We also go over the new viral hero of the UK, a man named Tom Skinner. And, finally, we cover the first …

Andor is so good that it almost makes it impossible to watch other Star Wars properties. We waited until the season had wrapped to really dive in and, boy, was there a lot to cover. So many layers to unpack! Also, Andor …

This week, Luke admits that the US World Cup team is doing really well. Then we do a catch up on all the bad stuff that happened on Twitter this week. Though, we did record this before the Kanye West stuff, which means, …

This week, we went through all the links in Facebook’s new Widely Viewed Content Report. We also do a catchup on Musk Twitter drama and run through …

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a fantastic and heartfelt tribute to Chadwick Boseman. It is also a bit messy and suffers from a lot of the same problems that other Phase 4 MCU movies are having. Also, its script …

We have three huge topics of equal importance to cover on this week’s show. First, we catch you up on the latest with Musk Twitter — fired employees, weird confusing product decisions, bugs and glitches, and …

This week Ryan and Luke sat down in their favorite pub in London and hashed out what is, perhaps, the greatest debate of our time: Whether or not paid verification on Twitter is good or bad. Luke thinks it’s fine. Ryan …

This week Ryan and Luke are in Lisbon, Portugal, for (the) Web Summit! They learned all about the metaverse and the blockchain and artificial intelligence and the highkey art of crushing deals. We also talked, of …

This week we kick things off with a look at Google’s very bad earnings report and a bombshell Reuters report that revealed that Twitter seems to be hemorrhaging users. Then we take a dive into the exploitative and …

Soooo this week’s big topic was about the currently-unraveling political situation in the UK. And while we were editing the episode British Prime …

This week we’re checking back in on Twitch, the livestreaming platform that just can’t quite seem to figure out how to fit in with the rest of the internet. We’re going through the latest controversies from TwitchCon, …

This week we’re talking about what was revealed by Elon Musk’s texts about Twitter. It turns out Elon Musk is not the deep thinker a lot people think he is. It’s not clear he understands how Twitter works or why people …

This week we’re talking about the very dark times that appear to be fast approaching the world of digital advertising. That may sound kind of boring, but it’s going to have ramifications all over the internet. What …

This week we’re looking forward at the US midterms and the upcoming Brazilian presidential election by looking back at how Meta’s platforms played a …

We’re talking about the Queen of England’s death this week. We’re talking about the totally bizarre reactions the American media had and the even more bizarre reactions British society had. Also, yes, we also talk about …

You’ve definitely seen these guys. They take what would normally be one very boring LinkedIn post, but turn it into an even duller Twitter thread. …

We’re talking about A.I. this week! It’s finally gotten good enough that we can actually talk about what a world of “A.I.-based content” might look like. We’re looking into real A.I., extremely fake A.I., and the ethics …

We’re back from vacation and all fired up about content! This episode is a big catch-up. We’re talking about the John Fetterman campaign, Dark Brandon, British Four Loko, why millennials love to write serious news …

It’s the end of our summer minisodes! We’ll back to our normal nonsense the week of August 22th. Until then, enjoy our look back at foursquare. Turns out Luke was a Foursquare mayor guy and Ryan really loved using it to …

Welcome to our third vacation episode. We’re talking about the best social media platform ever created, which is Vine, of course. It was like animated GIFs, but with sound. It changed everything. RIP in peace, Vine. …

We’re back with another vacation minisode. We’re talking about the dead platform to end all dead platforms. The one, the only Myspace. It’s responsible for more bad haircuts than another other website possibly. It also …

Remember Periscope? It was a quirky little livestreaming app that either was or wasn’t part of Twitter depending on the day? There were hearts. There were riots. People streamed their fridges. It was a simpler time. …

We’re on vacation! So this week we’re putting our usually paywalled episode out for free for everyone. Hope you enjoy! We’re talking about the frustrating mess that was Thor: Love And Thunder. We really really wanted to …

This week TikTok is full of videos of Gen Z guys dressing up in suits to watch Minions: The Rise of Gru. The trend is called #Gentleminions. Is it …

This week we went deep into a network of news accounts on Twitter called BNN. It turned out to be an insanely confusing rabbit hole and we still have …

We’re back with one more installment about NFT scammers and hijacked Twitter accounts. We learned a heck of a lot over the last week. We heard from all kinds of people who have lost access to their social media accounts …

Full disclosure: We had a whole plan for this episode and then things went insanely off the rails when we discovered something kind of shocking? What …

This week we finally got to play around with TikTok’s Creative Center. It’s a tool for marketers, but also has some really powerful tools for looking …

This week, we kick off the episode with a big long discussion about weird stuff European people do. The Brits are obsessed with a random restaurant near Coventry. The Swedes are feeding people who stay over for dinner. …

We’ve had a crazy week. But we’re back with a heap of upsetting updates from the world of crypto. And then we dive into our main topic of the week: What if the weirdos making memes and fancams and supercuts of the Depp …

It’s that time again! Facebook has new Widely Viewed Content Report and it’s just as weird and bizarre as the previous one. This time we’re talking about a Vietnamese content farm, relatable Netflix memes, and an …

WARNING: This episode does contain spoilers.

This week, as a way to celebrate 100 episodes of The Content Mines, we’re sending out our bonus minisode to all our listeners for free. As long-time listeners of the show …

It’s our 100th episode! That’s crazy! In that time we’ve gone through two names for the show, three versions of our theme song, and, just, so many stories about magicians on Facebook. This week is all about the big …

This week Ryan and Luke are recording from the same place! They’ve left their respective Zoom screens to sit in the same room. It’s a whole different …

This week we’re talking about Netflix’s very bad week. The stock has plummeted. Employee morale has cratered. Layoffs have started. It seems like a real mess. We look into how years of relying on an algorithm led the …

This week, Luke goes through the various petty beefs that he’s been following on the internet and attempts to explain why he doesn’t really care …

This week caps off our final installment from the Miami Bitcoin convention. We also talk about Elon Musk trying to takeover Twitter. Hilariously, we recorded this on Tuesday of this week, before the news that he wanted …

Ryan just landed in Miami for Bitcoin 2022, the huge crypto conference. And Luke surprised him by telling him mid-recording this week that he has COVID. So, yeah, this episode has some weird vibes to it. We’re talking …

What does The Oscars Slap mean for content? What does it say about personal brands in 2k22? R buzzy viral topics still relevant?? Can u b alt and also online? Has the vibe shifted and, if so, how effed is it rn?

We’re …

We’re going long on NFTs this week. Particularly the confusing and murky world of NFT copyright. Who owns an NFT? And what can you do with it? We’re …

This week we’re going deep on a term Luke coined a few episodes ago: “structural dissonance”. It’s that feeling you get seeing images of the invasion of Ukraine in the same content feed as memes, viral animals, …

We went deep into the weird and uncanny world of Facebook again. We promise we’re moving one after this lol. But we couldn’t ignore Facebook’s …

This week is probably our weirdest and most confusing rabbit hole ever. We looked into why Facebook is full of posts claiming that Katie Couric has …

This week, we're talking about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Obviously, this is a fast-moving situation. We recorded this mid-day on Thursday, February 24, 2022. We're looking at the torrent of content around the …

This week we are, once again, talking about another real bad week for Facebook, a company that appears to be having more bad weeks at a higher frequency than ever before. We also peer into the metaverse which is even …

Netflix is the biggest streamer in the whole world. They are, effectively, the streaming entertainment standard. So why are they launching a news …

This week we're journeying into the dark heart of American masculinity... again. We're talking about Joe Rogan. Why do people like him? Should …

We're diving deep into the philosophical issues at the core of TikTok, namely, why users on the app keep threatening to kill each other. What is it about TikTok's algorithm and user incentives that causes so many moral …

We went down the rabbit hole on the "primitive living" YouTube genre. We haven't solved every question we had but we did learn a few things. A Bunch …

This week we dig into the weird possibly entirely fictitious companies that sports teams around the world are partnering with to build NFT and metaverse products. Fake CEOs, weird non-office storefronts, shady …

This week we're talking about one of the UK's buzziest Twitter accounts, @PoliticsForALI, which was suspended by the platform this week. It was run …

It's (probably) our last episode of the year! We're talking about what we think will be the big trends of next year. Basically, we think every company will operate like a Gamestop pump and TikTok will cause a diplomatic …

We're digging deep into Tumblr's 201 Year In Review. We're looking at the top trends, ships, aesthetics, memes, and communities. What does it all mean? How is Minecraft YouTube so big? Why are teens into emo again? Do …

This week we're talking about the noxious vortex of international bodybuilders, pick up artists, and cryptocurrency evangelists. The dream of all bad internet seems to be some kind of money laundering scheme based in …

In Facebook's Q3 content report, they revealed that a page called Thinkarete Lifestyle was responsible for some of the most viral content on the platform last summer. But the question is... who or what is Thinkarete …

This week we're live from London! Thank you all who came out for our live show this week. Live on stage we made Guardian reporter Alex Hern guess the prices of various NFTs and, wow, things did not go the way we …

Ryan recorded this crouched in the corner at Web Summit. It was deeply mortifying for him. Luke recorded this from the comfort of his own home. We're talking the Facebook whistleblower, the metaverse, and Ryan finally …

This week we're diving into the very confusing metrics that streaming services like Netflix use. How many people watched Squid Game? A lot? Maybe? Less than you think? Probably! We also spend some time having a …

We're going deep on TikTok this week. We're talking about Alabama rush week, Couch Guy, LamboGate, and the Puncher Of W 4th Street. If you don't know what any of that means, don't worry, we'll walk you through it all. …

Our dive into the murky waters of Facebook gets even weirder and stranger this week. Right now, there are a handful of seemingly random, most-likely …

This week was a very bad week for Facebook. In fact, it was so bad that at one point it just simply didn't even exist anymore. It seems like the …

This week's episode is a trip down a very strange rabbit hole. OZY is a wildly sketchy media company that is now being accused of fraud. So Luke and …

This week's big story is about the disappearance of Gabby Petito, a 22-year-old who went missing last month and whose remains were found earlier this …

Today we have an extra big episode. It's a project that Luke has been wanting to dive into for a long time. We went through seven years worth of blog posts from the social analytics website Newswhip, which rank the top …

Geronimo the alpaca has been destroyed. There are green lines on Twitter that tell you if you're proud or ashamed of your genitals. And everyone's …

First, sorry for the sound issues in this week's episode. We both recorded this amid some pretty hardcore heat waves and our computers were not happy! This week we're talking about CIA conspiracy theories, weird …

Not going to lie, this week is a little heavy. We're talking about Afghanistan and the strange and uncomfortable feeling of watching via Twitter as the Taliban took back the country. We talk about the visual aesthetics …

We've got a lot of big topics in this week's show: the metaverse, Web3, the Penis SMP, ARGs. It's all very complicated! And Luke really doesn't like most of it — or at least thinks it's dumb as hell. But we're trying to …

This week we're talking about bed frames and also talking about what we're talking about when we talk about bed frames. Confused? Yeah, us to. We're looking at one of the longer-running jokes on the internet: that men …

We're looking at prank videos. Specifically, we're talking about how it feels weird to be outside now and it feels like irl is now just one big arena to make viral content in. Ryan also is grouchy about the Olympics and …

We've entered the age of the hustle bro. Whether it's a bunch of horrible guys on Clubhouse or the current president of El Salvador, the world's financial structures are warping under the weight of the internet and …

Luke and Ryan both think that something bad is coming. There's been a lot of evidence that something very NSFW is going to trend in a big way. Manic …

This week we have a revolutionary idea to float your way: What if everyone on the internet actually means what they're saying? What if all those …

This week we're talking about Facebook's weird blog/newsletter thing. It's hilariously bad and very confusing and, honestly, speaks to a weirder bigger issue with Facebook which is that no one really seems to know what …

WARNING: In the first segment of this episode, we do discuss the some details about John McAfee's reported suicide. Skip to 13:00 if you have trouble listening to that kind of content. 

American Republicans have a new …

This week we're talking about a bunch of different stuff. We go over the recent Chrissy Teigen drama. We talk about hustle culture. We check out some …

One more summer grab bag episode! We're talking about COVID-19 timelines, an incredibly cursed food video, the Yashar profile, and how every video on the internet now is basically just someone imagining a person and …

This week we're talking about a bunch of stuff — Trump's blog, Instagram stan accounts, crypto stuff, and how identity works online. This makes this episode sound kind of serious, but actually this week is a bit of a …

Does it feel like suddenly there's one story splashed across every feed? Do these stories sort of make you angry for no particular reason? Is it hard …

This week we're talking about something that Ryan has been dying to go long on for a while: Why Myspace-style Hot Topic culture is so popular with …

This week we're talking about a big story that Ryan's been working on for the last few weeks. Every so often a video goes viral featuring a white …

It's time for our first Gen Z Quarterly Review! We haven't checked in on zoomers in a while and it seems like now's as good a time as any. We're talking about TikTok magic, Wojack memes, post-radicalized irony …

It's called "cancel culture" but that's not quite right. What's happening, instead, is a large-scale weaponization of outrage bait. It's happening …

We're talking about sports this week! Specifically, the rise and fall of the European Super League — a disastrous attempt to at a football monopoly. …

We've made it this far into the show without talking about ads. But this week we're finally diving in. Luke explains this week why online advertising is bad and how we can fix it. TL;DR — ending targeted ads. Also, we …

This week's episode is DENSE. And it takes some TURNS. What we're talking about is the end of Yahoo! Answers. And yes, we do just read a bunch of good ones. But also, we're talking about what the internet means over …

Look, we're aware that title sounds like a whole bunch of nonsense, but trust us. It will make sense. This week we're talking about Lil Nas X, but …

We did it. We're here. We've watched the Snyder Cut and we're ready to talk about it. We liked it! It was stupid. It was long. But it's also a piece of content that sits somewhere between a traditional blockbuster film …

This week is all about the very weird "new normal" of life under the Biden Administration. Some weirdo is running a Twitter account for his dogs. Reporters are writing stories about the official amount of days he's been …

This week we have BuzzFeed News reporter Ellie Hall on the show. She's an incredible reporter and understands the world of British tabloids and the double speak and warped point of view of the royal press better than …

We're finally doing it, folks. We're talking about Your Fave Is Problematic, one of the most important Tumblr blogs of our time. That means we're …

We're talking bout crypto this week. Sorry! There's a lot going on in that world right now and Luke and Ryan have finally decided to jump in. This episode is a little technical, but don't worry, we also spend a lot of …

This week we have a guest! Tom Chivers, the author of The Rationalist's Guide to the Galaxy. It's a really fantastic look at how a small AI-obsessed internet community has grown out into both a modern techno-fascist …

You know those sites that raced to recap every new Game Of Thrones episodes? Those weird blogs dropping "leaks" from the set of Spider-Man 3? Those news outlets repackaging The Mandalorian fan theories you saw on some …

We're talking about Elon Musk this week. Ryan thinks he's just a meme thief who doesn't actually understand anything about the internet. Luke think he uses dumb tweets to puff up the value for Tesla stock. Maybe both of …

We're talking about r/WallStreetBets! It's technically our second episode about the subreddit. We break down what exactly is happening, why it's happening, and try and figure out if this is good or bad. TL;DR maybe? We …

Alright, this is it. Joe Biden is President. Trump has been banished to Florida. And the QAnon wizards are all going back to their yoga studios. America is a worse place. The internet is worse place. But at least now …

We realized it would completely impossible to not take about the coup. We're one week away from the inauguration and it's unclear what will happen …

We had an idea for the show this week. For reasons that should be obvious, we threw that out. We're talking about the coup. The internet opened up a …

Ryan and Luke are on vacation! They're resting and relaxing after a long year of mindlessly slogging away making content. In the meantime, if you're …

Ryan and Luke are on vacation! They're resting and relaxing after a long year of mindlessly slogging away making content. In the meantime, if you're …

It's our last episode of the 2020! We brought back our first-ever guest, podcaster and journalist Hussein Kesvani, a bad post aficionado, to help us come up with a unified theory of Bad 2020 Content. We also talk about …

This week Luke tries to convince Ryan that the monoliths popping up all over the world are actually bad and annoying and dumb. Ryan thinks it's a …

This week we're talking about the sovereign citizen conspiracy theory. Why is it back? How does it relate to QAnon? How does it connect to scotch eggs. Luke and Ryan get to the bottom of all of these questions. And …

This week Luke and Ryan brought in an expert, Tumblr's Cates Holderness, to help them navigate the very confusing and extremely funny fallout from …

WARNING: The episode contains a lot of dumb media talk. This week Ryan and Luke do their best to explain why everyone cares about newsletters all of a sudden. Does the fact a bunch of annoying White Guys In Media …

This week, like The Avengers, we arise from the wreckage of the U.S. president election and take stock of which platforms screwed up the least bad. Facebook seemed to be alright for a day or two. Twitter has been pretty …

It's a bit of a crazy episode this week. Luke is in full work mode and Ryan is still on the road. But they promised you an election episode and by …

This week, Ryan and Luke were asked to solve a mystery for one of their listeners: Why is my Facebook feed full of weird "prank" videos and stupid …

VTubers are suddenly everywhere. They're AI-powered cartoon anime avatars that stream for hours on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. Luke, before this week, didn't know anything about them. But unfortunately for him, …

It's the episode maybe some of you have been waiting for! We're talking about Facebook. It controls the whole world and makes everyone totally …

This week we have a GIANT-SIZED episode for you. Luke and Ryan came up with a list of the 13 most toxic fandoms on the internet and then they attempted to pick just one that is more toxic than all the others. It wasn't …

Fake influencers. Weird marketing companies. Fake Instagram backdrops. Multi-level-marketing TikTok companies. Nothing online feels real anymore but …

This week Luke and Ryan are talking about small towns! Specifically, what has been happening to small towns on Facebook. Weird conspiracy theories. Toxic fighting. Weird drama. In a world where your local community …

It's an election episode! Luke and Ryan have basically ignored the election for the last few months, but this week they're finally getting into it. Ryan shares his theory that Hillary Clinton saying Pokémon Go to the …

Luke and Ryan dive into the world of TikTok content houses. Hype House, Sway House, Club House, there are too many to keep track of! What would be …

We've put it off for a few weeks now, but we're finally getting into it. Let's talk about Q. Luke and Ryan start things off with their first introductions to the bizarre and dangerous (and incredibly asinine) conspiracy …

Luke and Ryan canceled their plans for an episode on QAnon this week because another story had come to light that required their attention: The teenage furry who spent seven years filling up the Scots-language Wikipedia …

We're talking about witch internet this week! Summer's windy down, spooky season is starting, and recently a group of baby witches cursed the moon. What does that mean? Hell if we know, but we're going to do our best to …

Reddit's r/relationships subreddit is a treasure trove of dysfunction and misery. Luke is convinced every single post is fake. Ryan is certain that every post is real. Click play if you want to listen to them fight …

The US Army has an eSports team. The US Army's eSports team streams on Twitch. A lot of people are very mad about this. In the UK, apparently the British military is using a podcast about the reality show Love Island to …

What is Cottagecore? Is it just a simple trend on TikTok and Instagram about getting back to a simpler life — one that involves a cottage? Or is it …

Luke and Ryan dig into the cringey, but beautiful legacy of peak Tumblr. They explore that one fateful weekend in Chicago when a bunch of grifters …

There's a lot of words in that title that are probably confusing and I refusing to explain any of them. This week we have Alex Hern, UK technology …

This week is a real good! Forget last week. This is prime time. We've got Ikran Dahir, reporter for BuzzFeed News, talking about a mysterious countdown the K-Pop group BTS is doing on Twitter and we've got Abby …

This week it's just Ryan and Luke! We wanted to catch up on a few things we've been putting off for a few weeks. We dissect how Robert Pattinson eats, have a bunch of needless arguments about the differences between …

New week, new nonsense. We've got author Dan Dalton on the show and he's very excited to talk to us about an RPG he's been playing that he claims is almost as good as being able to go outside and experience normal life. …

This week we're taking it easy. Back to basics. Focusing on what makes this show work, you know? We have Brian Feldman, internet culture reporter and …

This week is very special. We have Julia Furlan, who currently is working on podcasts for Vox Media, and Katie Notopoulos, senior reporter for …

Welp! Here we're back. This week we have Andrew Gauthier, the former Director of Digital Content for Kamala Harris, talking about how the internet helped him awaken a love for hunting for mushrooms, Ellie Hall, senior …

Look, if you keep listening, we're just gonna keep making these. This week we have Cates Holderness, senior Brand Marketing Strategist at Tumblr, on …

Well, here's another one of these, I guess. This week we have Gene Park, Washington Post reporter on video games and gaming culture, who explains why

Are you still listening to this? We have three very special guests this week. Hussein Kesvani, UK and Europe editor of MEL Magazine, talks about how the users from Reddit's r/WallStreetBets is having an emotional …

Alright, here goes nothing. Luke and I talk about the fan fiction masterpiece Fallout: Equestria, the fact Premier League soccer has ended, and why everyone's talking about the band Alien Ant Farm again.