Today, I’m talking to Jason Citron, the co-founder and CEO of Discord, the gaming-focused voice and chat app. You might think Discord is just something Slack for gamers, but over time, it has become much more important than that. For a growing mix of mostly young, very online users steeped in gaming culture, fandom, and other niche communities, Discord is fast becoming the hub to their entire online lives. A lot of what we think of as internet culture is happening on Discord.
In many ways Discord represents a significant shift away from what we now consider traditional social platforms. As you’ll hear Jason describe it, Discord is a place where you talk and hangout with your friends over shared common interests, whether that’s video games, the AI bot Midjourney, or maybe your favorite anime series. It is a very different kind of interface for the internet, but that comes with serious challenges, especially around child safety and moderation.
Links:
Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23898955
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Today’s episode was produced by Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Recode Decode: Jeffrey Katzenberg
Recode Decode: Sarah Frier
Recode Decode: Adam Grant
Recode Decode: Niall Ferguson
Recode Decode: Kevin Systrom
Recode Decode: David Plouffe
Recode Decode: Stewart Butterfield
Recode Decode: Gary Vaynerchuk
Recode Decode: Deepak Chopra
Recode Decode: Chamath Palihapitiya
Recode Decode: Ben Hubbard
Recode Decode: Andrew Yang
Recode Decode: "After Truth"
Recode Decode: Maggie Haberman
Recode Decode: Ron Klain
Recode Decode: Dr. Lloyd Minor
Recode Decode: Mark Lemley
Recode Decode: Aicha Evans and Jesse Levinson
Recode Decode: Dan Pfeiffer
Recode Decode: Jason Calacanis
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Vergecast
Why’d You Push That Button?
Ctrl-Walt-Delete
Re/code Decode, hosted by Kara Swisher
Re/Code Decode