Taylor Swift, as WIRED has reported in the past, rules the internet. She’s one of the most Googled celebrities in the world. Her search engine optimization, or SEO, in industry …
First thing’s first: Misinformation and disinformation are bad. False tweets that go viral, government conspiracy theories, lies about vaccines—these are all huge problems online, and they’re poised to get worse …
The music business is booming. Streaming revenue is up. Vinyl sales are up. CD sales are, somehow, also up. All of this is fueled by fans spending money. Now, startups …
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine found out that a childhood classmate had died unexpectedly. They hadn’t stayed in touch, but he was sad and curious about what …
“I failed two captcha tests this week. Am I still human?” —Bot or Not? Dear Bot, The comedian John Mulaney has a bit about the self-reflexive absurdity of captchas. “You …
If the question hasn’t hit your For You page or Twitter feed (or group chat) yet, it will: How often do you think about the Roman Empire? The provenance of …
Reaction videos started flooding TikTok this summer, all of them with the same question: Who is Quan Millz? The answer varied depending on the person, but each new response carried …
The first time I encountered Donald Trump was on my TV screen. It was 1994, and it happened in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will Smith’s popular …
“While looking through my parents’ old photo albums, I noticed that they had lots of pictures of friends gathered together. It made me think about the camera roll on my …
In America, presidential election cycles are political beauty contests. Vying for the presidency requires candidates to schmooze their way through the heartland, and all roads run through Iowa. The Hawkeye …