Ze Frank

We can't all be like Ryan Seacrest... the perfect platform manifestation of a human. I don't know if we all have those gifts for restraining our emotions... or whatever it is he does.

In an ever-changing technological landscape, where today's platforms are not tomorrow's platforms, the key seems to be that any one of these spaces can use a dose of humanity and art and culture.

I've been fascinated by the Internet from the very start. In 2001, I had made a funny black-and-white film called 'How to Dance Properly,' a short video of me dancing to a Madonna song. I sent it to 17 of my friends on a Thursday, and by Monday, one million people a day were logging on to view it.

What better way to connect with people than by staring and talking straight at them? Don't blink - that's one less connection you could have made.

The story of technology seems to go up and then retract into simplicity again.

Mobile video is now a reality and a force to be reckoned with. I think it is essential to think about how people interact with their phones; how they consume content and how they share.

I'm always glad when people come together to help each other - whether they're raising money for somebody in a bad situation or making a creative piece like a song.

Most of us yearn for really intimate, healthy, in-person relationships. People have a deep desire to be understood, to be told that it's OK, that you're not isolated and broken, that this is part of the human challenge, and that there is hope. The capacity for online interactions to do that is powerful.

I'm fascinated by simple joy.

Let me think about the people who I care about the most, and how when they fail or disappoint me... I still love them, I still give them chances, and I still see the best in them. Let me extend that generosity to myself.

I'm obsessed with media and the way audiences can become creative participants.

What's so funny about cats is that they have this kind of aloof, superior vibe to them. Even if you love them, they are unpredictable. Dogs are more social, and the way that they attach and bond to us is much more human.

YouTube has become more mature, both as a platform and as a community. So much content has been added in almost every conceivable category that there are no more free passes on just getting there first. I think there are greater expectations for audience participation, the kind of participation that makes a real impact in a show's community.

For some reason, we stopped getting gold stars at some age. It's time to bring them back.

The thing that has always struck me is that there has always been a bit of a hole at YouTube when it comes to authenticity, human emotion, fun and play.

We have this incredible ability to communicate with each other. I want to play around with it, see what this mass audience is really capable of.

I consider creativity to be a more non-rational, subconscious thing. You have a relationship to your creativity - you can feed it with content, with some rational prodding and sleep and things like that, but the mechanisms by which your creativity work are largely unknown.

When I was young, I had this feeling that there was this handbook that I had never gotten that explained how to be, how to laugh, what to wear, how to stand by yourself in the hallway. Everyone looked so natural - like they all practiced and knew exactly what to do - even the way they pushed their hair out of their face.

If you want to get into the creative world, you have to just keep flogging away even when nobody's paying attention. Because then when somebody finally does pay attention, it's certainly a lot more interesting when you have a ton of stuff to show.

I think this is one of the greatest gifts of this era: Because of the Internet, we can start to type a question into Google and watch the question auto-fill. In that moment, we know someone else has asked that same question. The gift of realizing you're not alone is incredibly powerful.