Living and Dying on the Internet

'Sorry, ' she said, 'it's just I've never met anyone famous before.' 'Sorry, ' I replied, 'you still haven't.' In 2008, the media reported that Alex Day was the first person in the UK to make money from YouTube videos. He was described as 'a YouTube star'. But he didn't feel like one. Alex watched as his channel grew, leading him to a YouTube party in Sydney, a video convention in Los Angeles and a world record attempt in London. He signed up to new sites like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. But as his professional life flourished, his personal life unravelled when a series of damning blog posts exposed his past and left him with no friends and no home -- and no audience. How would you cope if your worst mistakes were written up and torn apart by thousands of strangers, right before your eyes? A book about ambition, failure and responsibility, Living and Dying on the Internet is a timely and unparalleled look into the evolution of YouTube, the culture of public shaming and an insightful account of how the internet has changed -- and changed us -- over the last ten years.