Hannah Witton - The Truth About Sex

Full transcript: Hannah Witton on London Real

5:44 This is London Real. I am Brian Rose. My guest today is Hannah Witton, who is a 22-year-old British female known for her controversial and sometimes trivial weekly videos on YouTube that spread positive messages to over 100,000 subscribers about sex, body image, gender and sexuality. I shared the stage with Hannah at our TEDx talk like 3 weeks ago, where you spoke very openly and honestly about the reaction you received to one of your videos titled “Do I look like a s***?”

6:13 I thought it was fascinating, really interesting. I want to talk more about that. It was also an incredible day, an incredible experience at TED. You are originally from Manchester. You have a degree in history.

6:24 I have read your dissertation, or some of it, 12,000 words, and it’s on Google Docs. Yeah, I uploaded it. Yeah, which is very cool. Hannah, welcome to London Real. Thank you for having me.

6:33 It’s really a pleasure to have you. You know, I was just talking in our short video that it’s really strange, because we really couldn’t come from different backgrounds. You know, I’m American in my 40s, you’re British in your 20s. You know, our audiences are probably completely different. We talk about different things.

6:49 I put videos up that are 2 hours. You know, you put videos up that are 3 minutes to 7 minutes, yet we are united by this platform called YouTube. YouTube, right? And like the other thing I was thinking about today is that it’s changed our lives significantly. You know, I saw videos you did two years ago and you’re a different person.

7:05 Yeah, 100%. And so and I am to. I mean, Jesus, you can’t even talk about how my life has changed just because of this company that Chad Hurley made and everything that Google turned it into. So I want to get into that, but I want to talk a little bit about TED and TEDx. You know, it was, I was you and me, and I think maybe 16 other people that day.

7:23 Yeah, there was a lot of speakers. There was a lot. I know we were supposed to be there from the morning, and there was a breakfast, and we had to watch all of the people, and I was like third to last. You were in the… I was in the middle.

7:32 I liked my positioning, but so like, but yeah, I was just… people wanted to come and see me, but I’m kind of glad they didn’t, cuz I just needed to kind of calm and focus, and it’s a long time to kind of build up the anticipation. And yeah, I came back the next day, and in the other room over there I did a video, and I talked about the TEDx talk. I think I called my video “How I Aced My TEDx Talk,” which I think is a bit presumptuous. I don’t even remember giving it because it was so much like adrenaline and so much, all the lights and things like that, but one of the things I said on video is I said everybody should give a TEDx talk, and it’s not about, um, that 18-minute video you’re going to have the rest of your life, and sitting on the stage in the in the red circle.

8:07 It’s about, for me, all the practice I got, all the people I met, all the co- people, right? So it was more than that, right? Yeah, definitely. And it, I know that the actual event was one day, right, but it is stretched way longer than that because Alex probably came. I don’t know when he asked you to do the talk, but maybe two or 3 months before the actual day, and then even now I’m still in touch with people who I met on that day, and like working on exciting things with them.

8:36 So it’s something that it’s just like from one day and it just spreads out and it’s a mini revolution. Yeah, it’s amazing, and it’s not what I thought it would be. I had to push myself to do it. I’m sure you did the same, because it’s, and it, for most people like a TED Talk they’re like, no, I couldn’t do it. I’m obsessed with TED as full-on like TED fan girl, so I couldn’t say no.

8:58 Like, I knew when the opportunity was given to me I was like, I have to do this, even though I was just s*** a brick, right? But um, I said to myself like four or five months ago I was like, dude, you’re doing this show. You’ve been broadcasting, interviewing amazing people you should have had a TED Talk already. So I was just like, I just, why haven’t I been given a TEDx? I know, right?

9:17 So I was like, you better go find one, and then I did it, and I talked to Alex and I was telling, I mean, Alex Mary is the guy that organized the thing. He was super hands-on, super impressive guy. I wrote, I wrote an email to like TEDx people telling him that like he’s fantastic. Oh, he’ll like that. Yeah, he like that.

9:31 And so big, big love to Alex. He spent like multiple nights in this studio watching my um talk turn from quite honestly dog s*** into something that hopefully people like, but it was really bad, and people assume that just cuz you’re on YouTube and you have millions and millions of views, that you know how to talk to an audience. It’s so different, right? Like a live audience where you have to talk for a continuous like 10 minutes rather than just on your own in front of a camera, just saying line after line after line with breaks and ums and rs and all of that, although not with this, cuz this is continuous.

10:04 Yeah, it’s continuous. It’s a little different, but yeah, you’re right. With your editing and everything, then you can put out what you want. My videos are heavily edited. well, yeah, and you don’t hide that fact.

10:13 So no jump cut, jump cut, jump cut. Yeah, jump cut, jump, but I mean like that’s, and that that’s a style now. That is almost people expect that kind of jump cut, and so boring if there no jum. I know you need even like a second is too long. You need jump, jump.

10:24 One of my friends, he actually has developed being able to do one-take videos, and they’re still about 5 minutes long, and he talks really fast, and there’s no real hesitation. He’s always got something to say, and they’re amazing. I’m in awe of him. Wow. yeah, I mean, I do kind of one-take pre-rolls where I walk around London and introduce the guest.

10:43 I’ll do one for you before this, and I’ve gotten a little better at that, but it’s still a skill and then to talk fast, and then yeah, you know, you don’t know what to do. And that, but you have a you have a bit of a theater background, which I think helped you a little bit. Yeah in school, but that’s about it really. Yeah, okay, can we talk about your TEDx talk? Because it was, it was definitely one of the best ones of the day, and it was really, it was really poignant, and an experience you really had and and it was interesting.

11:07 I watched the video today, and uh, can we just talk about the video and what you expected the video to happen, and then what happened, and then the talk? Okay, so start with the video. Okay, so I made a video called “Do I look like a s***?” It’s, um, when was this? October, October 2014, and you had already been posting videos on YouTube for 2 years before that?

11:29 Three years. It’s almost, it’s coming up to four years now. Yeah, and I mean, if you had to typify your videos, are they all to deal with sexuality and sexual identity? But it’s some, it’s because that’s an extension of my personality. That’s what it is.

11:42 It’s like a personality channel, like it’s all stuff that’s related to me, so it’s things that I care about or things that I am doing. Yeah, no, I know what you’re talking about. People always say to me, like, how do you decide on your guest? And I’m like, I do it on people I want to talk to. I think it’s hard to remove, I want.

11:59 About yeah, right? It’s hard not to be, you know, if it was all about sexuality, it might seem fake, right? Well, not really, cuz there’s lots of channels that, um, there’s a couple channels that I know that do that, and that’s that, that’s the focus of the channel and it works really well, cuz it’s like a show. Okay, um, whereas mine is just kind of like my thoughts, and just if I’ve been having conversations with friends recently on a certain topic, then that tends to be then something that I’ll put into a video.

12:26 Oh, this is, I’ve been thinking and talking a lot about this recently. I mean, I’m going to share this. So you had been thinking about this concept? Yeah, so um, lots of discussions and just like thoughts with friends about s*** shaming in general, and like and s*** shaming and victim blaming, um, and that kind of thing, um, and especially kind of like based on a lot of comments that I received as well, because um, obviously I talk about sex a lot. I have quite a crude sense of humor, so I like making dirty jokes and finding the sexual nature in things, and a lot of people are like, you’re so sex obsessed, you s*** I used to get that anyway, like on YouTube comments, on Twitter, or kind of like, um, there was one that really stood out that was on Instagram that was hilarious, um, where I was, I was in Lisbon and I was at this art gallery, and the artist had like made big models of Mickey Mouse with like a giant erection, right?

13:24 They do that in Spain and Port. Yeah, and I took a photo of it like cuz it was hilarious, right, and just saying Lisbon is very sexual, and some guy replies being like, you think everything is sexual, you s***.” And I was like, “Who, what do you do with something like that?” Um, well, I don’t normally do this, and I’m not proud of what I did with this comment. Um, I took a screenshot of it and posted it on Twitter, and then loads of people came to my defense and started attacking that guy in the Instagram comments, which I then felt really bad about.

13:54 Okay, they tacked him on Instagram, or they tacked him on Instagram. On Instagram, okay? The comments on that Instagram photo, just like essays of people arguing with each other. I was just like, oh, whoops. Right?

14:06 What, so you did some shaming of your own of him or her? Yeah, okay. No, I mean, it’s interesting cuz there are these little like posses that kind of when they follow you along, then sometimes you don’t even have to say anything and they’ll jump all over. Yeah, I can’t even remember what I said. I think I just like posted a picture of the comment.

14:23 Okay, oh yeah, okay, so you’re used to these comments. So this, yeah, this is something that I thought about a lot, and and then also I was trying to think of a way that it could be relatable to people who um aren’t YouTubers, who don’t put themselves out there, so like everyday um experiences with this, right? Which are most people. Obviously, yeah. And I remember over the summer I um was at this party, and it was a group of new people, um, like my friend had invited me, and I, I didn’t know any of his friends, and I remember getting ready before the party with these girls, said I literally just met, and one of them like put on this dress and was just like, “Is this too s*****?

15:04 Do I look like a s***?” Like, ooh, is this… because I didn’t really know her, like I didn’t feel like I was really in a position to just project all my views on her about why that was a problematic thing to say. Um, but then it would been, then it was something that was just like playing in my mind a lot, and I just wrote it down in my phone: “Do I look like a s***?” And then just one day I woke up and I was just like, “Today is the day I’m making this video, cuz I have some free time and I’m, I’m ready now.”

15:35 Um, and that’s how a video happens. It’s just, it’s been dwelling in your mind, you put some notes then you decide today we’re going to shoot it, today it’s happening, and that could take, you know, I don’t think people understand, but that could take hours and hours because you had different shots, you had different outfits. Yeah, yeah. So normally my videos are just like just a piece to camera, jump cut to camera, which is really easy, but this one obviously had, I was wearing different outfits and doing, um, cutaways with it, so it took a little bit longer.

15:59 It’s quite fun to dress up as well. I like, enjoyed that. And did you know it was going to be big? Cuz it’s had like 700 and some odd thousand views. Did you know it was going to be that big?

16:08 No, you never did, and um, yeah, I, I mean, when it first went out, I realized that it was doing really well, and there was a lot of discussion and debate in the comments, and people were sharing it, um, and so that, and I upload weekly, and so that went out one week, and then I uploaded next week’s video just like all, like normal, and then it was actually in the second week that it was live that it got featured on Upworthy. So in my head I was like, that video is done, and then suddenly it just went, and I was like, oh, okay. Um, and so Upworthy is the thing that made it go.

16:43 Okay, and have you experienced that before where a video will get kind of… I guess, is it, do they call it going viral anymore? Is that kind of old news? I, yeah, I think, yeah, I wouldn’t say that my video went viral, though, even though it’s like it went viral, like relatively, okay, to my other videos, right? But it’s, you know, it’s on 600 or 700,000 views.

17:02 It’s not in the realms of like hundreds of millions of views. Do you know what I mean? Right. Okay, but it got that second wind of people that were looking at it, and when, and when that happened on Upworthy, did you get a change in tone, and then what happened, and what was the talk about, the TEDx talk? Um, yeah, so my talk was about how um, I’ve been making sex ed videos for a while, and um, I really believed that I was doing something good, that I was playing my part in society and creating, um, this conversation that would lead to positive change about attitudes towards sex and things like that.

17:38 Um, but then I kind of like slowly realized that the people who are watching my videos and sticking around agreed with me already, right? Um, because there was, like, my audience was a certain type of person, and I kind of noticed that when I, in the “Do I look like a s***?” video, I um, posted out onto my social media being like, what is a s***? How would you define a s***? And a lot of people came back to me being like, a patriarchal construct, um, like, you know, things, things like that, and I was like, you’re my kind of person, your audience.

18:09 Yes, yes, men. Yeah, these are my people. They’re like, um, you know, it’s a word used to shame women for their sexual choices, and I was like, yes. Um, so yeah, that’s a very, it’s a certain type of person that was watching my videos, and then that video blew up and reached new audiences um, who didn’t know me, didn’t necessarily sympathize with me, didn’t hold the same world views as me, um, and yeah, and so my talk was all about how actually really creating change is all about branching out and talking to different people, and the kind of like flip side of that, the sad side of that, is the abuse um, the hate that I received because I was reaching people who, like, completely disagreed with me and just wanted to send me really abusive, scary comments, right?

18:59 But then there was the really positive side of it that I mentioned in the talk as well, about how a lot of people messaged me being like, uh, that video was great, and I’d never thought about it that way before, and you’ve made me think about things differently, and that’s changed my mind, and so that was just amazing to me, the fact that I was just realized, oh, I’m changing something here. Like, this is amazing. Yeah, right? And before that video, you, you might have thought you were changing something, but maybe in retrospect you were just kind of preaching to the choir.

19:28 Yeah, okay, and that was the one where you broke out and found some kind of a new audience. Definitely, and it’s now like it’s kind of, um, back out again. But there’s definitely there is definitely like a handful of people who stick around and watch my videos and don’t agree with everything that I say. Um, and that’s really nice. That sounds really strange, but I really like it.

19:49 I like that I’ll, I recently did a video about pornography, and I like that I will put that out there, and then there’ll be people in the comments not blindly agreeing, but really like discussing and debating and throwing their opinions around. Okay, and you used to not like that, or not get that? Um, it was there, but usually it was, um, like a lot of people agreeing with me and just fleshing out what I’d already said, and then one person saying something nasty, and then everyone else jumping to my defense.

20:23 Um, but now it’s just a bit more balanced and conversational. Okay, so you learned something there? Yeah, in a big way. Yeah, yeah. I find that there’s like maybe you could do like a bell curve, and I find with our videos, you get, yeah, the people that agree with you, and they want to reiterate what you’re saying, and then you get the people that are having a heated discussion back and forth, and then you get like the outlier, completely mad people, and then you get the mad people that just want to fight with each other, and then these people are having fights about something completely unrelated.

20:50 You know, about, you know, the Middle East, and you’re like, what are you guys doing? Oh yeah, yeah, I um, made a video with one of my friends, and I’m Jewish, and she, she’s Jewish, and I think we’re both, we both call ourselves Jewish, um, and yeah, and so we did this funny video on my channel where we found this like um, how much of a Jew are you quiz? Okay, um, and it was just like all this Jewish trivia, and we tried to answer the questions. Um, she’s way more knowledgeable than me about things, and it was just like this really silly video of us, um, just talking about Jewish stuff.

21:26 Okay, and the comments… oh my goodness, it was a lightning rod. It was just like, how can you call yourself a Jew with the things that Israel’s doing? And I was like, this, this, like, I’m not Israeli. What?

21:42 Yeah, and then people got in these really heated debates about Israel-Palestine, which is like valid discussion to be having, but it’s, it’s the, um, it’s that little spark, like that video just sparks completely, like, an entirely different discussion. Have you ever heard of this concept? Is that when people give you a nasty comment that it’s about them having a bad day, and it has nothing to do with you? Have you ever heard people say things like that?

22:04 Yeah, and I think, I think there’s some truth in that. Okay, it’s weird when you get these like videos, like funny. I was on the Max Keiser show, the Keiser Report, and he has a program on RT and it’s at, you know, London Bridge or Tower Bridge is behind him, and he uploaded the video on RT, and then I ripped my half of it and put it on my channel, and so it’s basically the same content, but if you look at the comments, it’s like crazy, cuz I got the London Real posse over here that are like, you said maybe supportive, or maybe like, “Yeah, Brian, that’s good,” and then you got his posse, which he’s always calling out the bankers and kind of all this stuff, and so these people were having these massive arguments about something, and they weren’t even talking about me.

22:40 They were talking about like these hate issues between them, and I was just like, wow, these are, I don’t know what’s going on here. I have no idea. You have no idea. Comment section is a dangerous and wonderful and mysterious place. Do you go there?

22:54 Do you always go there? Yeah, when, when a video has first been uploaded, like within 48 hours, I see everything, and I like to, I like to kind of gauge people’s, like, first reactions to it, um, and then after that it’s not usually because I don’t want to, but it’s just because I don’t have the time to like keep tabs on everything. Okay, and you’ll, you’ll interact those first 48 hours, and yeah, usually. Okay, and then you kind of leave it, just cuz you’re busy.

23:18 That’s probably healthy anyways, right? Just let it go and talk. Just talk to me about the, the, the hate side, cuz you kind of covered it in the TEDx talk. I mean, when you get those really nasty, vile, I guess it is like a bell curve, when you get these like four, three percentiles out here that are saying these things. Like, what did you learn from that?

23:35 Um, I learned that I am actually kind of stronger than I thought I was, um, because they just kind of weren’t really affected by them. Um, my brain was like processing that they were awful and processing that they were scary and sexist, and just like, whoa, how, why would any human think that that was okay to say to another human being? Um, but I think I have this like filter system in my brain now, or there’s like some sort of protection blanket that I have that means that I see them, right, but they don’t, I don’t ever internalize them.

24:15 Like, they never, I don’t know, and I think I’m just really lucky cuz I know a lot of people who, like, have hate comments on their videos, and they, it really, really gets to them. Really, even experienced YouTubers. Um, I don’t know. I don’t, I don’t know. Sometimes, yeah, I think some people have like certain things that they’re insecure about, so someone, like, points that out, that’s like oh right.

24:40 Um, but yeah, I don’t know. Do you think that you can learn the most from your haters? I’m sure you heard that expression. Is that true, or how do you what’s your, what’s your takeaway from the haters? No, just, uh, just completely ignore them, because like there’s a difference between hate comments and, and then like negative comments that are constructive, right?

25:02 Okay, and I think the ones that you can take away the most from are the people who, um, say like things about you that you don’t quite like, um, but that’s just because someone’s just criticizing you, but they do it in like a respectful way. Okay, and, um, really the reason why they’re criticizing you is because they are supportive of you and they want you to be the best you right? Um, and I think those are the best comments to listen to. Really, yeah, those resonate with me.

25:32 I used to kind of ignore them, or I used to tell people resonate with me now, cuz I, um, I don’t know. I get really upset when I disappoint people. Okay, and so if someone, like, a recent example is, I started a new series on my channel called drunk advice. Yes, where me and a friend get a bit wasted, and um, we asked Twitter for their advice questions, and hilarity ensues, um, and this longtime subscriber and supporter of me commented saying like, I really like you, Hannah, but I think this video is um, like encouraging and glamorizing binge drinking, and you have a young audience, and I think that you should be more responsible with the things that you promote, and you’re not being a good role model.

26:19 And I was like, oh whoa, oh God, the, yeah, okay. And I recognize the guy’s username, like he’s been around for ages. He’s, like, has sent me music in the past to use in the background of videos. Like, have good um, like, even though I’ve never met him, like I totally respect him, and have a good relationship with that subscriber, and um, yeah, and I just suddenly was just like, oh God, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t want to do that, like the thing that you’re accusing me of doing.

26:45 Like, I really hope that I’m not doing that, and I don’t think I am. And yeah, and so as a result of, I had like a mini interaction with him in the comments about it, where I kind of defended myself and saying that it’s just me and a really close friend who care about each other getting drunk and the safety of a home. Um, so we’re not really promoting like drinking culture that much. Um, but he said, okay, even though that’s the situation, you’re not, like, explicitly saying it, like by the way, only drink if you, you know what I mean?

27:18 Um, and so yeah, the outcome of that conversation is that I’m going to make, like, a separate video about drinking responsibly. Okay, will you continue with the drunk advice? Oh yeah, okay. Well, I think the reason it bothers you is because you know you’re a perfectionist and you care about your audience and that’s why you do these every week. I mean, and I, I don’t um, and I mean, I know that, and he has a point.

27:42 Yeah, he 100% does have a point, and it’s about even if I don’t think I’m a role model, other people still look up to me, and so I have to like bear that in mind, right? When I put certain things out online, I didn’t think about that, but I guess that’s that’s a point he makes, but at the same time, you know, you are an artist and you have to express yourself, and there, people, I still 100% stand by that video, and like I will continue making drunk advice, and I think it’s a really fun series. Um, but I think he’s like completely right, and I just need to very explicitly talk about drinking, because it is important.

28:23 And but then the thing with that is, is that I’m not really qualified to do that. Like, I, I could make a video about how to drink responsibly and be like, you should do this, and you should do this, and you should not do this, and should not do this, but like, if you go through that list, granted, is, I will have done the complete opposite of the advice that I have given at some point in my life. Right, but you’re going to make one anyways. Of course. Okay, but I’ll probably be honest about but by the way, I have made all of these mistakes.

28:53 Right, I’ve done all of these things. Right, that will be good, and that’ll be good to address it, I guess. Yeah. I think like what’s important for me is like that honesty and authenticity um, with my audience. Yeah, it’s tricky, because like we started our show by, uh, talking about, you know, psychedelics, and we did ayahuasca, and we did all this stuff, and then like lately I’ve been like, you know, dressing in suits and like going to see like guys in Scotland that are like coaching me on business, and so certain part of my audience is like, Brian, what happened to you?

29:20 You sold out and not about this. And so you’re naturally going to have different fan bases that like you for different things, and sometimes they will be upset, and it’s good to respond to them, but then also you have to be you. So yeah, and I definitely do notice there’s different, like, pockets of my audience that like different things. Right, right. So the, um, on the videos that are around like topics of, um, sex or sexuality and things like that, the gender split on those is, tends to be more equal.

29:50 Um, and then I’ve started sometimes I make videos about books. I haven’t done a lot of those. They tend to not do that well view-wise, but I get so many tweets and comments from girls asking me to make more videos about books, so there’s this really, like, very small but very dedicated audience that want to hear me and see me talking about books. About books, interesting. Um, okay, and they love it, like, and so it’s like finding that balance.

30:20 What is the balance? Because like, what we’re all, because we’re all addicted to views, whether we say it or not, on YouTube, because that’s the metric that’s pressed in front of our face, you know, by YouTube. I think Vimeo, like, a year ago took the view count off your videos. I know, and you had to, like, click through to find it. I think that was their way of saying that we make art here, and we’re not about the views.

30:40 And so, and YouTube’s changed their metrics over the years. I think on certain channel pages, it doesn’t show the subs or views necessarily on the front page, but like, how do you strike your balance between, say, reaching 600,000 people or, re, reaching those 6,000 people that love your book reviews and you’ve changed their life, as opposed to those people that are just entertained for a few minutes and don’t know who you are? Yeah, um, am I cutting to the core there?

31:04 Yeah. It’s tricky. I think um, from talking to like a lot of my friends as well, um, it’s about having that balance. Between this one is for me, this one is for you, or this one is for both of us. Um, and you know, it’s at the end of the day, it’s my channel.

31:20 Like, I can put whatever I want on there, and people, that’s why people like you, people can be mad about it, but ultimately they can’t stop me. Um, but I would, um, but I started, um, a blog recently, and I’ve done like written book reviews on there, so if people really want to know my opinions on books, they can go there. Um, cuz I don’t think I would ever make one full video that’s like a book review of one book, but I would do like a video about multiple books, like find a theme and like talk about lots, but then on my blog I’ll do like singular book reviews.

31:59 Okay. I think most artists do what you’re saying. I think artists do that all the time. They’ll do a, you know, Brad Pitt says that. I’ll do it.

32:04 No, no, it was, um, someone else that says, I’ll do a film for me and a film for you, and a film for, you know, a film for Hollywood, and then a film for me, and that kind of thing. And so I think a lot of artists, you know, kind of think that way. You know, ideally they think about that way. But I was wondering, like, with you, you said you can put up whatever you want when you talk about sexuality and sexually charged issues, and then you have, you have videos talking about porn, sex toys, all this, you can find her at Hannah Witton, and so the one about sex toys has been age restricted.

32:33 Thanks, YouTube. Well, and that’s my next question. What, what can and you can’t do on YouTube? Where is the limit? I didn’t know that.

32:39 Um, well, I tend to stick to the YouTube guidelines, which are, what, uh, no nudity. Okay, is that the only thing? Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. Okay, but you didn’t have any nudity in the sex toy…

32:53 No, I, I actually appealed it, but they did not listen to me, cuz I think that that video is perfectly suitable to, for under 18s. Okay, and is it, they didn’t like seeing the toys? Is that it? They just said it’s of like, I think it was like the sexual content type thing. Um, and so under 15s can’t watch it, or something, 18.

33:12 Interesting. Okay, is that, and it can’t be monetized as well. If it’s age restricted, you can’t monetize at all. That’s just another way to kick you. There’s no real reason for that, is there?

33:20 Okay, dumb. Okay, so all right, you’re pro, you’re protesting that I’m pro. Yeah, but it was, it wasn’t even like um, as soon as it was uploaded, it was age restricted. It’s been up for like ages until it got age restricted. I was like, right, what?

33:34 Yeah, they must have had comments or something, because they can’t even monitor comments. In it were great, people bloody loved it. I basically did a, it was like a haul or like an unboxing video, that you see a lot of like beauty and lifestyle vloggers do, right? Um, except yours were sex toys. Yeah, so I was like, look at all these things.

33:52 Is there anything else you’ve done that’s got restricted, or anytime you’ve pushed it, or is there anything you can do that will push it as long as it’s the only one that’s been age restricted? Um, I had, I’ve got a video that’s, um, me and my friend, the thumbnail is us topless, and it, like, cuts off here, right? And the title is “Naked in Public,” very clearly clickbait, obviously, but it’s 100% relevant to the video, because, um, we, we’re topless, but, like, cut off here in the video, and we’re having like a really genuine and quite emotionally charged discussion about, um, why is it okay for men to be topless in public but not women, and the difference between male nipples and female nipples.

34:36 Like, what’s, I watched the video. I didn’t get to the nipples part, but I watched first a couple minutes. So, but you’re saying that they restricted that thumb? Or no. Um, but I, I just, that’s probably like as close as I’ve got.

34:48 Okay. And I think definitely a lot of people clicking on that video thought it was something other than what it was. Okay, but I like that they were like, ooh, yeah, great, naked girls, and then it’s just like, we’re going to talk today about feminism, guys. Worst. So what is your relationship with clickbait?

35:07 How do you feel about that? You know, thumbs are important, titles are important. Any YouTuber knows, with any experience, that the title can a lot of times make or break, or a thumb can make or break a video. And so it’s like, it kills you, because you might have a good message in a couple different videos, but a title or a picture can make or break it. I mean, it’s important.

35:26 I tend to go for the most like ridiculous thumbnail. It tends to be something that is in the video, so I won’t like Photoshop, um, a thumbnail. Okay, I’ll just take a screen grab from somewhere in the video, but something that I think looks like the most exciting or the most punchy, like, um, and then the title will just be whatever it is. But yeah, I, I, I guess, it, I do, like, like a lot of people, people, we’re all like playing this game slightly. So whenever I do a Q&A video, instead of having the title of the video “Ask Hannah” or “Q&A,” I will take whatever I think was the most sort of, like, interesting or exciting thing that I said in the video and used that as the title.

36:19 Right. So I did a, a Q&A, um, like two examples, and one of them, someone asked me about, um, like getting married, and I, I talked about like my views on marriage, and the title of the video is “I’m Never Getting Married,” and then in another one, someone asked me would I ever date a fan, and that’s the title of the video, like “Would I Date a Fan?” Okay. And they, you know, they’re, they’re grabbing titles, but actually there’s only like a segment of the video that is about that, and, and like, you’re fine.

36:55 Yeah, and I’m like, I know that I do it. Okay. Yeah, I’m sorry. That, no, you’re not sorry. Look, it’s, it’s, it’s YouTube practice.

37:02 That’s what a YouTuber does. You talk about sexuality, which is, it’s always going to be a word that everyone squirms when you say. I mean, like, we have a history of Victorianism in this country. In America, we have the Puritans. Like, people don’t understand, the Puritans got pushed onto those boats, and they said, get out of England, go to America.

37:18 And so, like, in America, I was just thinking about my childhood. Like, I don’t remember any sexualized image anywhere in my suburban grown-up. And so, is it, in, I just, station in the beginning, and you said that, like, our ideas of sexuality are biased by what we’re told to feel about sexuality, and like this whole interesting concept that it’s not, like, it’s innate by any means. No, like, it’s all learned. So like, what is this?

37:40 I mean, are we, are we always going to be squeamish about it? Are we getting better? What are we learning? What, what do you, what do you, what do you know? What have you discovered from doing what you do, and why do you do what you do?

37:51 Um, I do what I do because I feel like people are too squeamish about sex, and I think that a lot of the um, problems that we have in society that are related to um, relationships and sex and reproduction, they tend to happen because of a lack of communication and a lack of empathy, and so those are the kind of things that I really do try and get across in my videos, um, which is about, like, leading by example, talking about sex, just being open about it and being unashamed, and just being like, hey, I’m a young woman, and it’s okay for me to talk about these things and say all these things, and that doesn’t make me a s***. It doesn’t make me a s***. It doesn’t make me a human.

38:45 Um, and then the other thing about empathy is just about, like, being able to relate to other people who are different to you, so like being able to empathize um, with, like, LGBTQ+ community, even if you’re not a part of that, and being able to recognize that even if certain issues, like, don’t affect you, they’re affecting somebody else. And like being an ally, I guess, cuz yeah. So you kind of shock people into it, because you’re like, look, you’re going to listen to me, and I’m going to throw these things at you, and then they’re going to have to deal with it, cuz like, a, I watched, I watched that video Hannah did, and like now it’s in my head, and uh, I mean, that’s a success.

39:28 That’s a win for you if you get people to watch it. Right? Yeah, I think it’s it’s just about normalizing it. I think. Okay, um, it’s about just making it okay.

39:37 Um, and because I, um, put out a lot of, um, videos about sex, um, people often like come to me for advice about certain things, which, um, I’ll sometimes answer, and most of the questions that I get, and most of the responses that people need, is all they need to know is that their sexual behaviors, their sexual orientation, their emotions, their feelings, and their bodies are normal. Right? The main question I get is um, here’s a bit of information about me.

40:11 Am I normal? This is, I did this. Is this normal? And the answer is yes. And also I hate the word normal.

40:18 Right, I hate that word too, and it’s also probably really simple information that they should already have. Yeah, exactly. Bas, and it’s just people, like, inter, internally worrying about themselves and questioning their, like, identity and questioning, like, their, um, their value, being like, “Oh, I’m into this kind of porn, is that normal? Does that make me disgusting? Should I be ashamed?

40:47 Should I be embarrassed?” And you’re like, nah, you do you. You do you. You do you. You do you.

40:53 Do you think we’re more, um, do you think we’re more messed up now than, say, the Victorian era, when supposedly people used to refer to their legs as “limbs” and all that stuff? Or do you think now, since we have, like, hardcore porn on demand, and we have, you know, whatever, uh, amplified images of female and male bodies, that we have a whole brand of new issues to deal with? I mean, it’s all relative, isn’t it? There was probably stuff, um, porn in the Victorian age that at the time was shocking, right?

41:21 Like pictures. Yeah, disgusting pictures, relatively shocking. Um, and so I think that, like, we maybe we’re experiencing the same thing now, but it’s just there’s different technology, um, there’s different accessibility. Um, we are talking about sex a lot more. Yeah, um, but I don’t know.

41:44 I reckon the Victorians were a bunch of dirty, was right deep down, but like that communication is different. Like, they probably, like, maybe they were talking, but it’s like, you couldn’t go to a blog and talk about it, or you couldn’t see a video about it, but there were, um, circles of society where you could talk about these things, but it tended to be very elitist, right? Okay, so if you were like a middle class, educated male, there were circles of people who would be, um, researching and discussing sex.

42:17 Right. What do you think we’re going to be in 25 or 50 years? Like, if you look at, say, 25, 50 years ago, you know, we had this sexual revolution in the ’60s and the ’70s, and like, what seems like we’re coming so far. Like, the Supreme Court is now recognizing gay marriage, and like, wow, that’s a great concept, and like all these other things are coming. Like, in 50 years from now, do you think it’s going to be so much better?

42:37 Will there be all this information out there? Will you, you know, the 13-year-old girls that message you, will all those things be answered, or is it always going to be a tricky piece for humans? I don’t know. I mean, I hope not. I hope that it does get better, but the, um, the historian in me just really wants to just rip apart the idea of progress anyways.

42:58 Okay, because I think the idea of progress is just a very, like, Western-centric thing. It’s a good point. So it doesn’t exist? It’s just change, it’s not progress? Okay, progress is problematic.

43:11 Is there, so there, progress doesn’t exist? It’s just we’re getting, we’re getting very postmodern now. Getting into a real debate here. No, but it’s interesting. No, you have a real, I mean, you have a real background in this.

43:21 So, but a lot of people see you. I mean, you have a very interesting USP, as we call it, on the tech around here, you know, because you know, you’re kind of you’re the girl next door, you’re very young, you’re English, and you’re presenting this point of view. You know, if you came across as a different, you know, if you showed up in the bondage thing and cracking the whip and saying what you did, people would have a different interpretation, but you have, you know, you know your history and you know all these things, and you’re presenting it in your way.

43:42 Yeah, which is different, right? Yeah, I think it’s that weird like shock factor, um, because I think what people like tend to forget is that humans are multifaceted, and so they see me making videos about sex, um, but then I’m also, I also can be really quite immature and giggly and nerdy, and if one person’s only seen one side of that, they find it quite difficult to, like, realize that that’s the same person, right? Um, and especially cuz I am tiny. I’m also just, like, a very small human being, right?

44:26 Um, and so people like, oh, she’s so cute and adorable, and then I come out like, being like, hey, look, f***ing sex toys, and people are like, whoa, where did that come from? You tiny little elf. So it works to your advantage sometimes. Sometimes, because you had one of your videos where you talk about that, and you describing different things about yourself, and you’re like, look, I’m this, look, I’m that, and you said, like, sometimes identities are projected on us, and then some people are walking contradictions, right?

44:55 And you say your identity can change over time. Yeah, oh, just took me a while to figure out what video you’re talking about, but I guess as humans, we think, okay, a small uh, girl from the north that’s blonde, she must be into Disney characters. Oh, and I, and I am. Right, right, right. And then we see whatever, some blah blah blah girl in leather, then oh, it’s, we would maybe, oh, she’s sexual, oh, we should do that.

45:18 Is that just as humans, we tend to, like… Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%. And that’s another thing I love talking about, is like the way humans, like, categorize people and things as well, and it, like, it is a good thing, because it helps us understand the world. It’s how we’ve sort of been able to, um, obtain more knowledge about this world that we live in. Um, but yeah, it’s also, like, quite an oppressive thing, labeling everything and putting them in these really restrictive boxes.

45:52 Like, I made this really nerdy video a while ago about, um, the power structures involved in categorization, and that knowledge-power kind of relationship, and then I applied it to Hogwarts houses. Okay, like, was it good? I enjoyed that video. It’s one of my favorites. You know, one of my guests recently says that we have a perfect brain for, say, 70,000 years ago, and so we have a perfect brain for, like, living in a tribe where you had to make split decisions about, oh, that’s danger, oh, that’s not, oh, this is an ally in my tribe, that’s an enemy, and so, like, that we have the brain for that now.

46:27 Yeah, well, we have that brain that used to work very well back then, and now the brain’s now, and so now we make these split decisions about things, and we have all these biases in what we think, and now it’s, it’s, it’s wrong in this day and age, especially with pictures, videos of you on YouTube, and then, like, we make these wrong decisions, make assumptions. Yeah, let me ask you about something, uh, since we’re talking about sex and we’re talking about YouTube. Um, Charlie is so cool, who’s got a huge following on YouTube, 2 and a half million.

46:53 He’s big. He’s probably the biggest British YouTuber, right, of that age demographic? Nah, no, you’re, nah, no, people have people have overtaken it, maybe like two or 3 years ago. Charlie was the big one. Okay, all right, I don’t roll with all these circles.

47:06 You know, I’m on the fringe here in my long content on, get your facts right. He, um, he put a video out called “Sex and Consent.” It was like 6 months ago, and it was happening along the time when certain YouTubers were having, being outed, being outed as abusers, and I know Alex Day was one of them. I know there was a few more. I, I really didn’t follow it that specifically, because maybe I’m not in that community, or maybe I’m just, I don’t know, focused on other things, but it came out, and it’s a weird, it’s a weird time, because YouTube got big, and then these, you know, young people got, you know, fame all of a sudden, and then they made some choices that probably weren’t correct.

47:39 Can you tell me what happened, and what was your read on it, and did we learn anything from it? Okay, I have not spoken about this massively publicly yet. Okay, um, but what I think happened was, um, people abused the power that they had and used it to manipulate people, um, coerced people into, um, things or sexual acts that they did not want to do, and many people felt pressured, um, physically or emotionally, into doing things they didn’t want to do, because of the status of these people, and there was definitely this massive power imbalance in some of the cases.

48:25 Um, I think, I think that, like, it was awful. Like, you just, people shouldn’t, like, in the first place, that that kind of thing just shouldn’t be happening. Um, but I’m forever an optimist, and I think the positive thing that has come out of this situation is that it’s got the YouTube community talking about this, and it’s really helped to strengthen it. Like, during that time, the community just, like, came together and supported one another, and just, there’s been so much more talk on YouTube, and even made mainstream news with, um, the Sam Pepper thing, um, over the summer.

49:10 And is he a YouTuber? Yeah, okay, all right. Um, and yeah, it basically, it just shows that the way that the YouTube community, like, responded to it was like, we will not stand for this. This is completely unacceptable behavior. Oops, sorry, Mike.

49:28 And, um, and these conversations about healthy relationships and about consent, um, are happening, and I really, like, I’m just, I do feel good that these conversations um, are changing things, and that they’re still happening now, even though those kinds of events have, like, they’ve happened now, and there was all that talk about it then, but people are still talking about it now. It’s one of those things that I’m really glad that those conversations just didn’t stop, but they’re still going on, cuz they’re still necessary, unfortunately. But right, and the YouTube community really came out and said, this is okay, this isn’t okay, right?

50:13 I mean, there was certain people, that, that, that events happened, or maybe they apologized, and people were like, it’s not okay. I mean, I was reading an article about it, and there was a tweet from you where you said I hadn’t watched Alex Day’s new video, but nope, nope, nope, you are not part of this community anymore, what the hell? Yeah, and there were other reactions like that. I think, um, I don’t, I don’t know if I would stand by that tweet anymore, though.

50:35 It’s like, cuz I’ve spoken to some people about it now, and like it’s kind of like what I was saying before, it’s my channel, I can put out whatever I want on it. Um, so Alex is kind of like, you know, it’s his channel. He can, like, he is physically able to still make videos and put them out there, but he completely abused the trust that he had with his audience and the YouTube community, and I think any wise person who just wanted to put that behind them just wouldn’t come back.

51:08 Like, this, this was a platform that put him in a position where he could abuse that power. So why are we okay with him coming back to it? Right? Is there, that makes sense? Is there any absolution?

51:23 Is there, is there, or is it just like he needs to go away forever, or people that have made these mistakes, is there any redemption? Is there any way they can be, I don’t know, pay for, for what they’ve done? Well, the, the kind of, like, unfortunate thing about it is that, um, people don’t trust the like, don’t trust jurisdiction. They don’t trust that if they go to the police, anything will really be done about it, which is why all of these battles are being fought out, but with anonymous Tumblr posts and, right, and videos, and and things like that, and no real justice is, like, happening, right?

52:00 But that just comes from like the lack of trust in it, and just the general culture around um, sex abuse cases and things like that. Um, but I, I do think that people can change and learn from their mistakes. Um, but I think that, you know, if you um, if you abused the trust that you had with a community, even if you have changed, just find a new community, like, go somewhere else, do something different. Um, like, I can 100% accept that people can feel, be sorry for what they’ve done and, like, really, really sincerely apologize.

52:44 Um, but I just think it’s probably best that they do not put themselves back in the situation that allowed that to happen in the first place. Okay, do you think that that YouTube should do some training for people? 100%. Oh yeah, I was having this discussion with one of the guys today that does a lot of our YouTube stuff, and I said, like, should they have something where, when you break 50,000 subs, you have to go in for ethics training, or, for this is now, you are a star, you have responsibilities?

53:11 I mean, I don’t know. Yeah, cuz I think there’s so much emphasis on safeguarding, which is good. Like, you want um, people to be safe online, um, but it is very much focused on what you need to do in order for you to not be like abused or bullied online, rather than how to not bully. Right, okay. Does that make sense?

53:42 So, um, we were having discussions at this, um, like, women on YouTube event at Google a couple months ago, maybe, and one of the things, it was like this kind of, like, roundtable discussion type thing, um, just to kind of throw ideas around. Um, and one of the things was YouTube kind of getting involved in the legalities of things, and, like, actually protecting people and keeping people safe. Um, that training thing, I don’t think, like, specifically that kind of thing came up, but that could be interesting, but it’s like where do you draw that line?

54:18 Because like that fame is relative. Like, there could be a 13-year-old girl out there who completely idolizes someone who has 1,000 subscribers. Yeah, yeah. Um, and yeah, maybe it should be part of the class. I mean, we, we actually, how do you get everyone to come to it?

54:35 Everyone can come to London, LA, New York, or Tokyo, but maybe the effort should be made. I mean, we met at, like, a year and a half ago at the, a two-day training at YouTube, and they taught us, like, how to thumbnail and how to do this, and maybe they should have spent 30 minutes and said, look, how to treat your fans correctly. Yeah, how not to become, you know, a megalomaniac, or, you know, whatever, how to let your ego turn you into this. Maybe just, or maybe even case study of, look, this is what happened last year and the year before, and this is not good.

55:00 YouTube and ethics. Yeah, and maybe, like, we don’t, we don’t tolerate this, and we won’t accept this. But the thing is that, as much as it would be amazing to see YouTube as a company like, actually make a statement about it and do something about it, it’s not a YouTube-specific issue, right? It’s entertainment industry. It’s society.

55:21 It happens. The, the, um, the core of what happened was, um, was power balances, and just manipulative behavior, and sexual abuse, and it just so happened that YouTube could be a platform where those kinds of relationships could have been made, but they happen everywhere. They happen everywhere, but let’s be honest, they wouldn’t have happened without YouTube, not those specific ones, right? And because it’s such a, it’s, it’s ubiquitous, it’s so powerful, with the, the form of video.

55:52 You could argue that wouldn’t have happened with a Twitter or a blog, or something like that. It would’ve happened with a video platform in these days. There’s really just one video platform. I mean, I know they can’t police everything, but it’s interesting to see that all these cases did surround, you know, YouTube personalities, right? Yeah, and, and, and I guess the other thing I just want to ask you about.

56:08 I mean, this is such a strange time in history, that, like, 10 years ago this couldn’t happen, and this was, like, this time where you had these massively accelerated fan bases that would probably only ever happen with, like, Hollywood stars, like, at that age group, like, someone these are, like, males in their early 20s, right? I’m guessing, maybe I’m not, and so, like, this is, like, this weird technology piece that all of a sudden thrust these, these people into these situations where they made some bad choices. I mean, is this, is this a technology issue?

56:33 No, no. Okay, but it’s something that was exacerbated by the tech. I think that, um, the one of the things that, like, technology has done good in this situation is more people can talk about it, and, um, rather than like an isolated case of sexual abuse happening, because that’s what they’re treated like, cases of sexual abuse are all treated as isolated incidents, rather than, like, actually looking at the bigger picture and going, oh, there’s, like, a epidemic going on here.

57:12 Um, but what I think technology does is it allows those conversations to spread, and spread, and spread, and reach, and trickle down, and so people, rather than seeing, like, this one incident happen here and another one happened here, and not relating them, like, it’s, it’s happening now. People are relating them and trying to figure out, okay, what is the problem? What is happening here that is allowing these situations to happen, and then trying to fix it.

57:41 Right? And that was the community, and the community really reacted in this sense, and they, they almost were the police force. Right? I mean, like you said, I mean, they, yeah, I mean, dangerous. Yeah.

57:50 I mean, it’s kind of a weird mob mentality. I mean, they can go one way, and they can go the other way. I mean, you’ve seen them on your stuff, Instagram thing you post. Like, they can, they can be like wolves, and you can’t control them sometimes. So like with this, with you, with Alex, and this kind of thing.

58:03 I mean, and then also, he’s, you know, look, I also, like you said, it’s these weird anonymous Tumblr posts and stuff that everyone kind of goes, so is that the right way to do it? No, no, it really isn’t. Um, well, it’s so tricky because the one of the things I will 100% stand by is that, um, whatever the victim chooses to do in that situation is 100% fine. Like, if they want to write an anonymous Tumblr post about it, do it. If they want to do nothing about it, fine.

58:34 If they just want to tell a couple close friends, if they want to go to the police, in as much as I would like every case to be brought to the authorities, as much as I think that that is the world that I want to live in, I also, you just, you just have to respect the wishes of the person who was, like, the victim in that situation. Okay, but how do you defend yourself against an anonymous post? I mean, someone could write an anonymous post about you or me, and it’s, like, in a trial, it might not happen.

59:07 You’ve seen sometimes people go to trial, and they’re like, the thing about the fake anonymous posts, and that argument is that it’s exactly the same argument as, but what if this woman lied about being raped? And, like, the statistics show that the percentage of most cases of, um, people lying about that kind of thing, um, never make it to court. They are, like, immediately dismissed. It’s very clear that it’s not true. Um, and the percentage of, um, rape cases that are actually fake is the same percentage of muggings that are lied about, but you don’t see headlines about, blah blah blah, lied about being mugged.

59:56 Oh my God. And it’s, it’s definitely this thing where people don’t trust someone to be able to um, say truthfully what happened to their own body. Yeah, it’s like I could say, this is what happened to me, this is how it made me feel, and people, like, really? Though. I think I know better.

1:00:16 You’re like, no, it happened to me. I think I know better. Um, it’s such a, strange, really weird mistrust, and so that’s with these, like, like you said, these fake posts. I just think that’s irrelevant, because there have been a couple fake posts, but they’ve been immediately discarded, like, no, that’s not true. And rather than, um, creators worrying about, oh no, oh no, what if someone writes a fake post about me, no, like, what you should be thinking is, I will not behave in that way because I am a decent human being and I respect it.

1:00:52 I wasn’t necessarily, I was a fake point or a good point, but also if you can’t even defend your post to someone anonymous? It just gets tricky. It just gets tricky, but I mean, I guess, but I kind of think if you have done nothing wrong, then no smoke, no fire. Yeah, don’t worry about the fake post. I keep thinking of that guy, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

1:01:09 You know, who was it? It was the French guy who was in America and assaulted the maid in the hotel, and it made the headlines. And then we were like, okay, this is going to trial, going to trial, and IMF, the IMF guy. Yeah. And then they, then they just found that she just wasn’t a credible witness, because she had lied about some other things, and the whole thing fell apart.

1:01:25 Like, I don’t know if that was right or that was wrong, but this is one of those kind of, like, that’s like a boy who cried wolf thing. We just, you know what I mean? Like, you, you lie about other things, but then, then the one thing that maybe is true, people don’t believe. I mean, like, most people think he’s probably a scumbag, like, and so, so, but then, then why wasn’t he prosecuted for this instant? And the reason he wasn’t is because, not necessarily that didn’t happen, or she was wrong.

1:01:48 It’s just that then she lied about something else, and so then that broke the case. But those are all criminal standards, you know? But, but then again, he was shamed in the, in the, the court of public opinion, just like a lot of these YouTubers, and he’ll never have the respect again. And you can’t, is that like, is that a big, that question? Is that a big enough punishment?

1:02:04 I don’t know. Like, is it ruining someone’s career? Like, do you know what I mean? Like, but you don’t, you know, it’s weird, and when you’re messing with celebrity, I mean, you, these people live by the sword and die by it, you know? I mean, it’s yeah, and the interesting thing is, is that, um, and well, not interesting, the, like, quite dangerous and quite scary thing is, is that, um, you will still see comments from people on, um, their videos saying, “I will support you no matter what.

1:02:34 I don’t care what you’ve done in the past. I still love you,” and all these things, and these are coming from teenage girls, right? And that’s terrifying, right? Okay, and that is, again, an issue of the celebrity and fan base, because, again, it’s that into that tail curve. There’s a certain percentage of people.

1:02:50 I’ve had people like tweet me saying, “I’ll support you no matter what,” and I just want to reply to them like, “Please don’t. What if I’m someone, would you support me then?” “I probably would.” All right, so, but in retrospect the community is better. It’s self-policing now.

1:03:02 Now a lot of these young stars, male or female, know that you have responsibility that comes with your celebrity, and you need to, you need to do the right thing. Right? There’s definite improvement that’s happened, but definitely a long way to go. Right? Okay, fair enough.

1:03:15 Um, well, thanks for telling me about that. Thanks for telling about that. I appreciate that. How we were talking about how YouTube has kind of changed each one of our lives, and like I saw a video you did two years ago, and your hair looks different, and you look different, but like you’re also different. You’re, you’re, you’re, you’re much more comfortable on camera now.

1:03:30 Um, like I don’t know which one’s better. I think they’re both good. I mean, my early videos look horrible, but I leave them up there anyways. But like, what, how has YouTube changed you as a person? H, I don’t even know, cuz I wasn’t even a fully formed human when I started making videos.

1:03:45 I was 19, so I, you know, either way, whether YouTube or not, the last four years would have been life-changing for me. Um, but it’s just interesting, the direction that it’s taken. Like, when I was 19, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was older. Like, I kind of still don’t, but there’s like a direction or a theme or an area. Um, cuz when I was 19, I was just like, oh, I’m going to go to uni and do history because that’s my favorite subject, but beyond that, no clue.

1:04:18 Um, and now I have this thing that I just love and I adore, and all I know is that I want to keep, keep doing it, but I don’t know how I’ve changed. It’s one of those things, like, because I’m with myself all of the time, those changes happen really, yeah, gradually. So I’m like, I’m the same. Um, but if someone knew me really well when I was 19, and then didn’t speak to me at all for four years, and like saw me again now, they’d probably have a better idea of how I’ve changed.

1:04:50 Yeah, or if you watch your old videos, you might see that. Yeah, don’t bother. But now is an interesting time in your career. I mean, you’re, you, you’re at, you know, for all the YouTubers out there, we all look at each other’s subscribers. It’s a horrible metric that we all follow, but you know, you’re at, you know, 105,000 subscribers.

1:05:03 You’re at almost 7 million views. You’re given your TEDx talk. You, you know, you are a presence now on YouTube, and people look to you when it comes to sexuality and stuff like that. And so where do you take it from here? Um, I mean, one thing that I definitely think I should do, and I do want to do, but not right now, like at some point, is, um, get more qualifications, um, either that, like, that’d be like a master’s in, like, gender and sexuality or something, or, um, just like do a course in um, counseling or something like that, um, because sometimes I do feel like really out of my depth in that.

1:05:46 I like, impostor syndrome thing going on, like, why would anyone trust me? I’m a fraud. Like, why, why are they coming to me for advice? I know nothing. And also I want to um, be really careful in, in the advice that I give people, and I don’t want then someone to turn around to me like, you gave me really bad advice, and now my sister is dead, you know?

1:06:08 Right, that’s really extreme, but um, I just want a bit more of like a professional backbone. Okay, um, like if I’m going to be carrying on talking about like sex and sexuality and things, I want to which you probably are going to continue. Yeah, so it’d be good to get, yeah, so far my degree in history with the, with the focus on the history of sexuality. Like, I feel like for now that’s like enough to kind of, right, get me through, um, but I’m definitely going to need some more stuff, and I do want to keep learning about it as well.

1:06:42 So yeah, I mean, like, you with a PhD would be pretty badass, you know? You know, years. God, I know about a PhD. Maybe if I could handle a master’s, friend? So that, and maybe some, some counseling training or some experience doing that would make you just feel like you grow into that role better.

1:06:58 Yeah, just make me feel a bit more qualified and confident. That’s very observant of you, because I think a lot of people on YouTube that would get the, you know, the fame, whatever you call it on YouTube, I don’t know if you call it that, would just say, oh, let’s just, just let’s just keep riding this thing, you know, and wouldn’t think, okay, I got some responsibility here. Um, so that’s pretty mature. Yeah, Bas, one of those things I’m like, yeah, in like 5 years’ time, though, right?

1:07:22 You know, and so, and you, you spend two days a week at a charity. What are you doing with your time? Like, what’s your week for you? Two days a week I work for YouthNet, who are an online youth charity. Um, so that’s definitely really helped me learn about the language and the, you use with, um, young people, because we give people, um, young 16 to 25 year olds, um, emotional support, advice, and information about all sorts of things, so like sex and relationships, mental health, housing, and jobs and employability, um, all of the things.

1:07:58 Okay, and I work on their YouTube channel, so I script videos and I present the videos and edit and all that sort of stuff, but cuz I’m on the editorial team, like, my colleagues work on all the articles, and um, um, because I’ve been working there, I’ve done some, like, um, training on comment moderation and, um, uh, Mental Health Training, which kind of means, like, the, the kind of, like, language that you use, um, when young people, like, come with their questions or problems. Um, like, one thing that I’ve learned, um, is about not saying to people, it’ll be fine, it’ll all be okay, like, don’t worry, cuz you can’t promise them those kind of things, and that is something that I would have instinctively done in the past, okay, be like, don’t worry, it’ll work out eventually.

1:08:55 That I can’t promise those things, so you don’t say that. No, don’t say that, and you try to be specific about what you tell them. Yeah, and also another, um, thing that I’ve learned is to not project labels onto other people, so like s*** and these kind of things, don’t do that, but also, um, so, um, if somebody, so you have to mirror their language, so if someone sends in a question saying, um, I’ve been feeling really sad, mad, and down recently, and I feel really unmotivated, um, and like there’s no point, and I don’t know what I’m doing, and I spend every day in bed, like that kind of thing.

1:09:37 You know, I might read that and I be like, I think this person is depressed, but you can’t say to that person, you’re depressed. You, you have to mirror their language, be like, I’m really sorry that you’re feeling down, and you feel unmotivated, because, um, it’s more helpful for that person to figure it out for themselves, because the moment that you say, oh, you are this, or you are this, then it makes it, they have like the complete opposite reaction to that. They go, no, and really reject that label, right?

1:10:08 It’s very complicated, isn’t it? And this is online interactions, like “Bea type” or yeah. Okay, we’re, we’re an online charity. Okay, so there’s no nuance in that. That’s tricky as well.

1:10:19 Yeah, and like, so we have a team of people who, like, moderate the discussion boards and the live chats, and so that’s, like, their job, day in and day out, and, like, really, um, being able to emotionally support young people, but then also giving them, like, the right information and advice that they need. And it’s, it’s really tricky. Like, I, you know, people have been coming to me with questions and advice for ages, and I’m just like, blah blah blah, this is so easy.

1:10:50 Um, but now I’m like, oh okay, right, so that is, this is more serious. Change your interaction game on Twitter and YouTube, that kind of thing, probably. Yeah. What advice do you give to young people that want to be like you? I’m sure you get people all the time that ask you, how can I be, how can I be Hannah Witton?

1:11:10 What is it, a YouTube personality? What do they call, yeah? How to be a YouTuber, like, or vlogger? Do you like that term, or not really? YouTuber?

1:11:16 Yeah, I tend to use it. Yeah, vlogger, or content creator. What do you tell people when they ask you that? Um, the main piece of advice that I tend to give people who want to start making videos is, like, if they want to be a vlogger, so like talking about stuff, is to talk about things that they’re interested in, because they shouldn’t make videos about One Direction just because it’ll get views, you know, or, like, or whatever is popular at the time. Okay, or sexuality?

1:11:47 No, just, okay. Um, because the things that make a video engaging is if the person in the video talking about the thing is interested in it, and that passion comes across. So I’ve watched videos, um, of people talking about something that I’ve never heard about before, I am not interested in the slightest, but their passion and their interest in it just makes the video immediately so engaging, because you can just feel that coming off them, and you know that they’re into it, and it makes the audience into it as well.

1:12:24 Yeah, so that’s the advice I tend to give: just talk about what you want to talk about, and that will come across in that video, and people, that’s what people like to watch. Okay, any other advice as far as what they should do, or is it just do it? Is it, it just kind of like, it is okay? Yeah, unfortunately. Do you find a lot of people ask you questions and then never do anything?

1:12:46 I don’t know, like, to be honest, it’s one of those, um, interesting things where, like, someone could ask me a question and I’ll respond, and then I don’t know the outcome of, right, what happened? I think maybe if something terrible happened because of some advice that I gave, I would know about it. Um, but, um, I’ve had, like, really positive interactions with people who’ve said that my advice has helped. It’s good advice. And I mean, it’s the funny thing about YouTube is that you can tell right away if someone’s passionate, or if someone cares.

1:13:19 People can tell in seconds. Yeah, exactly. It’s that authenticity again. Yeah, and that’s the beauty of that medium. You can convey all that emotion.

1:13:26 So can you make a living off YouTube? Um, me personally, yes. Um, not yet. Okay, not yet, getting there, right? Um, like, working for the charity is good as well, cuz that, um, helps me have, like, the income in order to um, spend the rest of my time doing YouTube stuff, rather than having, like, a part-time job, um, as a waitress or in a bar.

1:13:54 Um, so that’s really, and it also means that you don’t have to focus 100% of your time on making money from YouTube, because that would change the content. Right? Yeah, yeah, definitely. So you know, I make one video a week, but it doesn’t take me a whole week to make that one video, so it means I have time to come here and do things like this, and we’re lucky for it. Um, what, um, what was I going to say?

1:14:14 Why once a week? Um, because I think for vlogs and to keep people interested, um, which is always important, like, I think if you’re gone for more than like two weeks, people are like, who? Um, I think one a week, like at least one a week, really is good, and I do one because I don’t have time to do two or three. It’s also good self-discipline. We do one a week, and I’ve always done one a week, but it’s also good because at the end of the year, you have 50 videos, and you know, I mean, I’ve never, it’s only since the beginning of this year, like, one of my New Year’s resolutions was to make a video a week.

1:14:56 Okay, and so I’ve stuck to it so far. Um, before that, cuz of uni and stuff, it was like sometimes it’d be one video a week, sometimes two, and then sometimes I’d go like a month without uploading, because, you know, uni just got in the way. Um, and I would always try for one video a week, but it never happened, but now that I’m not at uni anymore, is like something that I can actually commit to, right? If you’re listening for advice, I would say, take what Hannah said and do something you’re passionate about, and then give yourself some discipline and just force yourself for one a week, because not only, well, you’ll produce the content to keep you relevant, but you’ll also, you’ll get better, and you’ll get criticism, and then, cuz, without, do, even if, um, I think the one-a-week thing is definitely, um, a good piece of a device in order to build an audience, but it’s not necessarily a good piece of a device in order to create better content.

1:15:49 Right? Okay, so you might start putting garbage out. Exactly. And so if you, if you’re just starting out, maybe try and make a video a week, but you don’t have to upload all of them, cuz some of them might just be terrible. Okay, um, so just upload whatever you’re happy with, but still maybe have some sort of schedule for creating.

1:16:10 Okay, it’s interesting what you said. It’s, you can’t survive yet on YouTube, and I find that, as a YouTuber, and there’s been tons of articles about this in the New York Times, and, you know, you, you can’t survive on the ad revenues on YouTube really, and so the, the, the, the ones that have, have found other ways to survive, right? Whether it’s t-shirts or live events, or that kind of merchandise, brand deals. Do you find that most of the top YouTubers can get that together, or does that take a lot of business thought?

1:16:35 That is a little more complicated than what they’re good at, which is making engaging videos. Oh, I, I am like pretty sure that, like, all of the top, top YouTubers have teams behind them. Okay, working on that kind of thing. Okay, okay. They just work on putting out the videos.

1:16:51 Okay, top, meaning like the 10 million subs, and those, oh yeah, okay. So they have entire organizations. And what about an upcomer? What about someone with, you know, 100,000 subs or 200,000 subs who doesn’t know what to do? Because if you sit around waiting for that ad check every month, it’s going to be a, a long month, right?

1:17:06 Um, yeah, um, I, um, what would you mean? Like, what do I do for money, or, like, just to fill my time, or how would someone learn about what to do? Not, not even you per se, but, like, yeah, basic, like, one of the brilliant things about YouTube is that you can meet people that are in the same situation as you, so you know, like, just making friends, and then your friends are doing the same thing that you’re doing, so you’re like, hey, how did you do that?

1:17:35 That was a really cool thing that you did. Like, can you help me, or, like, give me some advice about that? Um, like, I’m always doing that. I’ll be like, hey guys, I need to buy some new lights, like, what do you recommend? Or I’m thinking about um, selling some merch.

1:17:50 Any, um, websites are good for that, you know? And it’s that kind of, like, peer-to-peer education. Like, we’re all learning together. It’s just like we’re all pulling together our knowledge about it and helping each other out. Right?

1:18:04 You do a lot of collaboration videos. Um, I love them. Is that because it’s fun, or is that, is that important to do that anyways for the community and for new people, and to help each other? Um, it’s, it’s got lots of benefits. One, um, I, like, I collab with my friends, and so it’s just a really fun experience.

1:18:22 Um, and, um, another thing is, is that it, um, really helps with creativity, because you’ve got another brain there, and things might happen, or you might come up with something that you couldn’t have done on your own. And that’s, it can be lonely as a creator sometimes. Right? Sometimes it’s hard times here, hard times on YouTube, and, but then also, like, doing collabs is a great way to build an audience, um, because you, you kind of, like, if you do a, like, one of those collabs where you both make videos for your own channels, and then you, like, cross-promote, and you can get, gain a large audience.

1:18:56 Um, and another fun thing that audiences love is if they know that YouTubers are friends, they get really excited when they see them in videos together. Okay, okay, and that’s really, that’s a really fun thing, like, I know I love it when, um, when, um, Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, and Mamrie Hart make videos together, cuz they’re friends and they’re creators, and anytime they’re in a video together, hilarity ensues, and it’s just, like, just, just brilliant content to watch. Um, but then it’s also really exciting if, like, one person watches a YouTuber and they watch another YouTuber, and then suddenly they see these two people in a video together.

1:19:36 Like, this is amazing. Um, like with my Drunk Advice, the first video I put out, I said in the video, like, “Hey, who, what YouTubers do you want to see in this series?” And there was lots of comments from people being like, “This person, this person, this person.” And so I’ve immediately, like, messaged them, being like, “Yo, people want you on my show, come be on my show, you’re hooking it up.” Yeah.

1:20:01 Who is your audience? Is it mostly women? Is it mostly men? It’s 60% women. Okay, so, um, it used to be interesting.

1:20:11 I think that’s, it’s a lot more like evenly split than a lot of vloggers. A lot of vloggers tend to be, like, more like 80% of their own sex, typically. No, no women. Oh really? Oh okay.

1:20:23 Yeah, of vloggers, of vloggers. Is the audience on YouTube more women? I don’t know, because, like, one of the biggest things on YouTube is gaming, and I assume that the majority of that audience is male. Maybe, yeah. So it’s just the types of content, really, and then you’ve got, like, the beauty and fashion and lifestyle.

1:20:43 That’s huge. Yeah, probably majority of um female audience, right? But yeah, mine’s 60/40. And is yours young? Is yours under 18?

1:20:52 No. Um, the majority of them are my age. They’re in that 18 to 24 bracket, and then the interesting thing is that, um, yes, the majority is the 18 to 24 bracket, and that’s very evenly split boys and girls. Um, the second biggest age group for women is the 13 to 17 year olds, and then the second biggest age group for men is the 25 to 34. Interesting.

1:21:17 So it’s like, so you have, the okay, the young girls, young ones, and old, and then the guys go, and the older guys. Okay, right. Everyone’s getting something slightly different, and I’m guessing, hey, you know, it’s your business, it’s your USP, like, what are you going to do? So um, and you’ve talked about maybe going to New York, maybe doing, I want to ask you about a web series. I mean, your content is short-form, it’s speaking to camera.

1:21:41 Is that something you want to change the next few years, or play with other things? Yeah, I want to change it. Not like it doesn’t mean I don’t want to. I’m going to stop doing vlogs, but I definitely want to try new things. Okay, cuz there are cool things.

1:21:54 I mean, when we were at that seminar at YouTube, you know, a bunch of the webinar guys, not webinar, sorry, web series guys were talking, and it was interesting, cuz it was still kind of newish to put out a 12-part series, self-funded, you know, 10 or 20 grand web series that looked pretty, you know, cool and good, and tvisha, not fiction, like, like, cuz that’s not, like, my forte. Yeah, um, but I would love to, like, work on, like, a factual doc about the history of sex or something. No one steal that.

1:22:29 There it goes. Too late. You talked about maybe going to New York City. What have you learned from the American YouTubers? Oo, I love them.

1:22:39 I’ve learned that I love them. Um, are they different than the Brits? Of course they are. Yeah. H, let me think.

1:22:46 They, um, I think because America is so huge, and yes, there is the um, the kind of, like, Hollywood A-list YouTubers that all live in LA. They do the top, top ones in LA. They either move to LA or they’re in LA. Exactly. And, um, but there are still, like, brilliant YouTubers that live all over the States, and I think because they’re all so far apart, um, the community is, like, is really quite supportive, because, and they’ll, like, talk, and they’ll collab long distance, okay, which is really exciting, and I’ve done that with a few of my American friends.

1:23:34 Um, how do you collab long distance? Oh, you, um, so you Skype, so you have the other person in your ear, and you film yourself, like, straight on, and then you send your half of the footage okay, to the other person, and then you sync it up, so then you slice between the two of you, having a back and forth. Okay, and you have an earbud or something like that? Okay, and that works. Yeah, it has done.

1:23:57 That’s pretty cool. Okay, um, or you just, like, film a separate clip and send it to them, cuz they need it for a cutaway or something, and so there’s definitely, like, this community, but it’s just different to here, like, especially since I moved to London and I’m fully immersed in the YouTube community in London, which means, like, not just working together, but these guys are my friends. They’re, like, my main social circle in the city. Um, whereas in the States it’s, like, slightly different, unless you live in LA.

1:24:30 But then I guess it’s the same, like, cuz London is also, like, this massive YouTube hub. Yeah. Have your, have your videos gotten better since you moved to London, or because of the collabs, or have you learned things, or when you’re at a party? I know. I think I, I mean, I hope that my videos are always getting better.

1:24:46 Um, there’s definitely more opportunities for me here, in, like, just time, now that I’m not a full-time student. So I’ve got more time to, like, think about what kind of content I want to be producing. I’ve got more access to the YouTube space, and got more access to other YouTubers. Okay, but the Americans did it first, usually. Like, were the Americans there first, a few years ago, in a big way?

1:25:13 I don’t know. Not necessarily. And do you have a big audience in America? You must. Yeah, it’s kind of, like, quite evenly split.

1:25:18 UK, US. Is that funny? Same with us. I always tell people, it’s like the Downton Abbey effect. Like, the Yanks always want to see what’s going on in Britain.

1:25:26 Yeah. I get, I get compared to Emma Watson so much, and I think it must be, um, mostly Americans, because I’m Northern, and Emma Watson, they don’t know, is not, and I’m like, I sound very different to her. You just got to go with it. You. Yes, I am.

1:25:40 Ha. My theory is that the Yanks always look to Britain because they ultimately have no class. So yeah, that’s my thought. They think we do. They do, they think they do, and that’s why they always look the girl who swears and talks about sex in her channel for a living just had a Subway.

1:25:56 Oh man, I just outed you there. Um, I just wanted to ask you, uh, question I ask everyone on the show, and that is, I’ll have to maybe adjust it for you slightly, but I always ask if you can make a phone call to the 20-year-old self, but for you I’m going to adjust it to the 15-year-old self, and give young Hannah a little bit of advice. What would you tell her to do? Oh, I, I hate this question. Not going to lie.

1:26:21 You get it all the time. I got asked this today. I hate this question. Come on, you’ve never been asked that before, have you? Well, I’m trying to, like, remember what was troubling me when I was 15.

1:26:32 Um, I worried a lot about a lot of things, like school grades, boys, friendship, being popular, being cool. Um, but I was never, like, massively disadvantaged in any of those areas. Like, I worked hard and I got good grades. I had a boyfriend I was in, had a good group of friends, but I, I think I don’t know, maybe be more self-assured, like I am now. So it kind of, like, you know, I’ve been on that journey, but, like, 15-year-old Hannah could have probably benefited from a bit more confidence.

1:27:13 Okay, don’t be so anxious about everything. Yeah, and I think I was definitely nervous about being, like, a teacher’s pet, and like now that, like, I’m a grown-up and I have nerdy friends, and it’s cool to be a nerd, like, I’m like, yeah, teachers loved me, I got straight A’s, I was amazing in school, but at the time I’d be like, yeah, I did my homework, like, on the bus, like, last minute, and I’m like, no, I did it, like, 3 weeks ago, and I would be too embarrassed to admit to those things. And like, you know, I just, I want it to be, like, more cool to be, to care, right?

1:27:49 Like, I hate it when teenagers think it’s cool to not care about things. But yeah, cuz it isol. I wish Hannah had been, like, more 15-year-old Hannah had been more confident. Me, like, I care about school. Yeah, all right, that’s good advice.

1:28:01 Best, best advice you’ve ever received, could be business or personal? I actually want to go. I want to find out the YouTube, best YouTube advice you’ve ever received. Oh Jesus, come on, besides your clickbait thumbs that you’re, you’re putting on. Ah, I put on the spot.

1:28:15 Um, best advice, best advice I’ve ever received? Oh, my brain has gone, like, pulled a complete blank. That’s right. Um, parents, what, what the people said, parents, family, or any, any YouTuber that, like, you were asking questions like, back in the day when you were at 10,000 subs and you were like, I don’t know, should I do this, or, you, someone at the studio you might have met. I’ve just thought one thing.

1:28:39 Um, it was at Playlist Live last year, and there was this panel, and somebody asked a question about how do you get to collab with big YouTubers, cuz that’s, you know, the dream, like, I want, I want to make a video with this YouTuber. I want to make a video with this YouTuber. Right, it’s the dream, but is it, do it really, does it make a difference ultimately or not? I have these dreams, I’m like, oh my God, I would love to make videos with these people.

1:29:06 It’s obviously not going to happen, but then there are people who are like, I would love to make a video with youn, like So I’ve suddenly gone, oh, now I understand how it feels for that person to know what I mean, like, cuz I’m on the receiving end of it too. Um, and it was Grace Helbig at Playlist Live. She gave this great piece of advice, um, which I’ll take on board myself, and I say to other people as well, which is, um, you should collab and work with people who are roughly the same size as you and, like, in your same position, because high tides raise all ships.

1:29:44 Okay, wait, if high tides raise all ships, don’t you want to collaborate with someone with the higher tide to pull you? No, but the thing is, is that if you’re all collaborating together, right? You all, you’ll all grow together. Yeah, I always wonder, like, if that collab with that huge guest in the long run ultimately makes a big difference. The thing is, is it doesn’t.

1:30:03 I’ve seen it happen, and what happens is it gives you, like, a little break, and then suddenly maybe you have 200,000 subscribers, but then your videos are still getting, like, 5,000 views each, so people, like, immediately jump over to your channel, right? But then no one sticks, right? So it can be even more disheartening, right, to see that, like, there’s already that huge gap between subscribers and view count, right? But often those shout-outs or, like, collabs with a big YouTuber, like, can help short-term, but then unless you’re creating, like, amazing content consistently, people might not stay, right?

1:30:42 And then you’ll realize how small you really are. You said there’s a, there’s a disconnect between subscribers and views, and this is a common YouTube complaint, as in that you have these people that have hit the subscribe button, which is quite an investment, cuz people don’t know where it is sometimes, and then a lot of times those people don’t even know when you put a video up, or don’t watch your video, cuz the subbox is broken. Is the subbox broken?

1:31:03 Is because YouTube doesn’t promote to those people your new videos. Is it, what is it? I mean, cuz it’s weird, it’s all, it’s all of those things. I mean, I’m guilty of it as well. Like, I’ll look at my, like, subscription feed, and I won’t watch every video in there, right?

1:31:17 Um, I’ll just, like, watch the ones that I want to see, but I’m subscribed to them, cuz I want to like, see what they’re doing, right? Does that make sense? And they make a video that I’m like, oh, I am interested in that one. This is a YouTuber problem. If you’re listening to us and you’re like, what are you guys talking about?

1:31:31 This is, like, a high-quality problem. But um, it’s funny, I talked to, uh, one of my good friends and former guests is Sully Breaks, and he has a spoken word artist, and he has his channel, and he’s got, like, whatever, quarter million subs or something like that, and he’s always like, yeah, Brian, you got the greatest fans, and they really are loyal, and I’m like, dude, they’re small compared to yours, and, like, everyone’s kind of in a grass is greener scenario, and, like, you don’t really know what a sub means or is worth. Like, you’ve thrown around the number that I have, like, over 100,000 subscribers, but my videos on average get 30,000 views.

1:32:02 Some get more, some get less, right? So that 100,000 yeah, sounds impressive, but that’s not an accurate representation of the number of people that watch my videos, right? But then some YouTube subscribers with 100,000 views might only be getting 5,000 views a video. So it’s, it’s really different. Yeah, it’s a funny old game, this YouTuber.

1:32:18 It’s a funny old game. Um, but anyways, it’s been, it’s been good for us, right? I would ask you the, the advice you give to the 20-year-olds, but you kind of said it. You said, if you want to become a YouTuber, do you think it’s a good goal to have, or do you think people should just be like, you don’t need to be on YouTube, you can just go live your life? Yeah, just get out the house, leave the house.

1:32:39 Do you find most YouTubers are really introverts? Total introverts? Yes, okay, I am one of the anomalies, I found. Yo, you did your personality type and you were throwing it out on the thing, you were, E, something something, NP, NFP, and E is for extrovert, so that’s rare right for YouTubers. I yeah, I found that a lot of um people, like, one of the reasons why they started making YouTube videos is because they were maybe, like, awkward socially in real life, and it was, like, an outlet for them, somewhere that they could talk and be themselves.

1:33:10 Um, maybe. Yeah, and I started YouTube because I was bored, and I’ve, like, always been pretty okay socially. Um, like in public situations, usually I don’t want to, like, say that I am definitely 100% fine in social situations. Definitely had occasions where I have not been. Um, but yeah, and I, I, yeah, I’ve definitely, like, met a lot of people who are um, really introverted in real life.

1:33:44 And um, but the interesting thing is, is that a lot of viewers, um, and especially, like, friends of mine who don’t understand the YouTube thing at all, they always saying to me, like, oh my God, all of these, like, how can you be friends with all these, like, really loud people who just, like, are so narcissistic and want to put themselves out there? And it’s like, yes, there is this narcissism to most YouTubers. Um, and then whenever I say, them, well, actually, like, a lot of them are just extremely introverted, they’re like, what?

1:34:14 Right? It just, it just blows their mind that these people who are confident enough to, like, put out videos of themselves to, like, hundreds of thousands or millions of people are introverts. Yeah, yeah. It’s the paradox. But the thing is, is the introversion doesn’t mean not confident.

1:34:27 No, it doesn’t mean not confident, and it doesn’t mean that they’re not social. It just means that they kind of get recharged sometimes by being alone, and actually making videos is a very solitary experience. So it’s quite suited to, inion. Try going in the, in Final Cut for a while. That’s pretty solitary.

1:34:44 Yeah, so, but it’s interesting what you say. I mean, um, a lot of the musicians I’ve had here, that first of all, they’re not what you see on stage. You know, they’re this crazy magnified personality that’s not them. They’re not all the rock and roll guys. They don’t drink, they don’t do drugs.

1:34:59 They run their image like a business. It’s really fascinating, and I had the guy from Dirty Sanchez in here a few weeks ago, Matthew Pritchard. Fascinating guy, but he’s, like, total introvert, and he’s just like, yeah, he’s like, I’m not ready for this interview, and I’m like, dude, you get on stage and you know, stick things in your butt and all this stuff, and he’s just like, yeah, that’s, that’s me. I turn into that guy, and he’s like, I can be that guy, the life of the party guy, but he’s like, otherwise I’m not.

1:35:22 And so, uh, it was, uh, that’s interesting. It’s really interesting, like, in this kind of circumstance. So there you go. Um, this YouTube phenomenon, I don’t think anyone is even understanding what it is, because it sounds so simple, like, you upload and put yourself out there, but, like, it’s making these, like, seismic waves around the world, and, like, it’s going to change in the next few years, and even in 10 years, and it’s just constantly evolving.

1:35:41 It is evolving. Even the stuff we were talking about earlier, like, early last year, you know, with some of the consent stuff, like, we didn’t know that was going to happen, and, like, there’s going to be some other weird waves, and so it’s fun being a part of, but I don’t think anyone understands it yet, right? It’s like, and people can make their own predictions, but you just got to ride it out, really. You got to go with it. What’s the best way for people to get in touch with you?

1:36:01 Should they go to the blog first? Should they go to the YouTube channel? Like, what do you like, um, what to, like, directly get in touch with me, or, like, learn more about you? I mean, are you, are you push people usually first? Um, I tend to push people towards my YouTube channel and my Twitter.

1:36:14 Okay, all right, and those are simple to find. Are they just youtube.com/ Hannah Witton? You go, Hannah Witton. Nice and simple. Okay, and you’ve got the book reviews on, um, on your blog.

1:36:24 Uh, I liked Bossypants a lot. I read it a little while ago, though, right? It’s been out for a little while. A year. It’s been out, like, it was 2011.

1:36:30 It came out. She’s such a good writer. She’s so talented. I mean, I used to, like, I used to 30 Rock. I mean, I just got so much, and it’s got so much, like, Americana humor in there.

1:36:40 Like, I’m, it’s hard to catch all of it. It’s like every half a second there’s, like, a joke. So um, yeah, great book, great book reviews. Um, Hannah, thanks so much for coming on. Thank you for having me.

1:36:49 You know, this is, like, you know, you’re, like, almost an atypical guest for us. You know, like, I mean, a lot of times I have these old guys talking about this and that, or I get these old guys talking about success, and so it’s really good to have someone with a different perspective on here, you know, telling us stuff, so I’m glad I met you at TED. Congratulations for doing that and putting yourself to you, too. Thank you, thank you. Um, hopefully it’s good, cuz like we were saying earlier, I’m really nervous about watching them back.

1:37:15 I know. It’s like, I got to, I force myself, like, to do things. Like, you got to watch it now. So it should be out in a couple weeks. By the time this is out, our TED Talks will be out.

1:37:22 Check those out on the TEDx channel. I think so. There you go. Somewhere, somewhere, as we say on London Real, it’s about the journey. Hannah, I wish you well in yours.

1:37:29 Thanks so much for being here, and peace to you hallucination.