What does it really take to make a living (and an impact) on the Internet today?
Join Matt Silverman (who has been covering online culture for 15+ years) in conversation with YouTubers, musicians, podcasters, streamers, journalists, TikTokers and more about turning creativity into a job, building community on ever-changing platforms, and their complex relationships with huge online audiences.
INFLUENCE is the relaunch of 2 GIRLS 1 PODCAST, a weekly comedy/interview show about fascinating online communities, which ran for 7 years and nearly 300 episodes.
62 A Melania Trump Erotic Monster Fiction Book Is #1 on Amazon Thanks to Internet Protesters ✊ J.D. Boehninger
Feeling dismayed by U.S. politics in 2018, J.D. Boehninger (pen name) got advice from a friend who was writing self-published monster fiction for the Amazon Kindle. Many authors were making a good living writing paranormal stories, erotica, and things about Donald Trump. So Boehninger decided to combine all three.
The result was "Melania: Devourer of Men," an erotic tale about the first lady who was secretly a killer vampire from Filipino folklore. The book debuted. A few friends left reviews on Amazon. And then...nothing.
Eight years later, the book suddenly popped into the Internet's crosshairs after Amazon gave Melania $40 million to produce a documentary about her life - a pile of money that smells suspicious to say the least.
As a small gesture of protest, a subreddit called r/Boycott UnitedStates got wind of the book, and hatched a plan: What if all Amazon searches for "Melania" lead to the satirical monster book INSTEAD of the documentary?
J.D. Boehninger joins Matt to discuss the online machinations that sent his 8-year-old book to the top of the Amazon charts.
Disclosure: I have verified Mr. Boehninger's identity and authorship and am anonymizing his face and voice for this interview.
This show is made possible by listener support: https://www.patreon.com/influencepod
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5 Feb 2026TRANSCRIPT
61 How Can We Teach Kids About AI When We Barely Understand It Ourselves? | Amber Ivey 🤖 AI for Kids
By day, Amber Ivey uses big data to inform governmental policy decisions. Back in 2020, she was invited to tinker with a new tool from a young startup called OpenAI - two years before the public had ever heard the phrase "ChatGPT."
She knew right away that the LLM would have huge ramifications for the way we relate to the Internet, and that kids would be particularly enraptured by it.
She wrote a children's book about it, and her access to experts on the topic lead her to the next project: A podcast for kids and families about AI literacy - the risks, the potential, and the how we reckon with a digital world where nothing is what it seems.
This week, Amber and Matt sit down to discuss what kids really understand when interacting with generative models,
how to apply IRL critical thinking skills to the Internet, and why parents need credible and useful information now more than ever.
Listen to "AI for Kids" wherever you get podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-for-kids/id1745917083
Connect with Amber and follow her work: https://www.ambermivey.com/
This show is made possible by listener support: https://www.patreon.com/influencepod
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23 Jan 2026TRANSCRIPT
60 How the Man With 1,000 Voices Accidently Became a Full-Time YouTuber 🎙 Brian Hull
Brian Hull unlocked his super power at a young age. Mimicking the voices of the world's most recognizable cartoon characters earned him lots of social cred on the schoolyard.
In 2014, he uploaded a YouTube video of himself singing "Let It Go" from "Frozen" as a variety of Disney characters. It was never meant to be public. He woke up the next morning to millions of new fans and an exciting career as a professional voice actor.
Since then, Brian splits is work between online video creation and voice work for films, commercials, and even a new anime series.
Brian chats with Matt about his favorite characters to perform, and the ones that challenge him the most. They also cover what it means to be professional voice actor in 2026 as AI-generated voices become mainstream, and why someone with his skills might not go viral on today's Internet.
Listen & subscribe wherever you get podcasts:
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🟢 https://spoti.fi/3UGQjrN
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This show is made possible by listener support: https://www.patreon.com/influencepod
Join our Discord community! https://discord.gg/influencepod
Call the show and leave a message: (347)-871-6548
Email me with guest & trivia suggestions! influencepod69@gmail.com (NOICE)
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Inside a recent episode
62 A Melania Trump Erotic Monster Fiction Book Is #1 on Amazon Thanks to Internet Protesters ✊ J.D. Boehninger
Published 6 Feb 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] There's a lot of public figures like, I think legally, I don't think there's any real issues for anyone here. Walk us through the plot of the book and then what happens next? Yes. So, so this novel is about a lot of Trump and it's, it's set during the first year when Donald is president and she's in New York. And this, this presidency is from her whole life into chaos, because she, she used to like being a very private person and just going to parties and just having, and just not really having much to do and no responsibilities. And now she's got eyes on her. And that's distressing A, because like, you know, she just doesn't like that. […]
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