The Webbys’ Executive Director on the State of the Internet

Claire Graves on how the web is leaving us more polarized than ever, the next big developments on the web, and how to win a Webby.

Claire Graves is acutely aware that the internet can be an angry place. As the executive director of the Webby Awards, the leading international honor for excellence on the internet, her job centers on monitoring the ever-changing state of digital media. “There’s more and more fighting on the internet,” she confirms. “On Twitter and on Facebook, in comments on Instagram, on Reddit, and all of the other different platforms, in forums and comments on publishers, we think that it’s escalating.”

But here’s the thing: While the divisive political climate plays itself out online, only 10% of consumers enjoy seeing companies argue online, according to a Webby survey. Brands should therefore be careful about jumping into the fray. “Be cautious and be true to your brand,” Graves advises. “There are many things that you can do that aren’t combative, and consumers are going to respond.”

Graves and her team will be detailing those tactics as they visit over 250 companies in 17 cities around the world to present their report “Under the Influence: How the Internet Exploits Our Thirst for a Good Fight, and Leaves Us Wanting More” about how the internet, its platforms, and algorithms exploit our desire to engage with controversy by creating a feedback loop of provocative content, leaving people more polarized than before.

Graves remains fascinated by the internet and is committed to finding the bright spots among the web’s dark overtones. Magenta caught up with her ahead of her talk at Huge, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the internet, to chat about her former agency life, her love of digital, and what she sees as the next big things on the web.

How I got here

I grew up in Adelaide and left Australia to go to university in Edinburgh, where I did a history degree. After uni, I decided I wanted to work in a creative industry and wanted to make things, so I moved down to London, and I started working in the advertising industry. I interned at an above-the-line advertising agency called Nitro, which became, of course, SapientNitro, and then I joined a big traditional agency, AMV BBDO.

When I went from Nitro to AMV, one of the things that I just kept feeling was that the part of the industry that was the most interesting was digital. It still felt really new,and really fresh and really innovative, and at that time, I felt like it was where the cool gang worked.

I started looking around at where I would want to work, and there was a guy named Iain Tait, who wrote a blog called Crackunit that I read every day. Through the blog, I reached out to Iain and met him at his agency, Poke. We had a great chat, and I was really lucky they had a project manager job for me, working on clients like the BBC, The Guardian, American Express RED, Topshop, Skype, and the children’s charity Barnardo’s. We made websites, emails, banner ads, social campaigns, and big digital things. I loved it. I loved working on the internet, and I felt like I had found my tribe.

So in 2011, when I was planning to move to New York, two things were really important for my next role: One, to keep making the internet, and two, a team that felt like home. I’d known the team at the Webbys for a few years, and again, I was very lucky they were growing and had a role for me. I’ve been here nine years now, and we have a team that is so great and so passionate about what we do, and we’re fortunate. We spend 365 days a year celebrating the best work on the internet. We set the standard for innovation and excellence online, and we throw the best party for industry people every year.

The big things happening on the internet

In terms of technical development , machine learning has had an incredible impact on the internet, and we are seeing that play out in the emergence of voice technology and personalization and bots.

Looking forward, the introduction of 5G internet on a wide scale is going to have a huge impact on the technical development of the internet. With faster and more reliable internet, we’re going to see massive advances in medicine, education, health, education, and of course, advertising and storytelling. And an example of that, which I think is incredible, is surgeons being able to perform operations remotely. Teachers being able to use AR to complement their lessons in class.

I think that advertising is going to feel a huge impact from that development as well, with creatives and technologists at the forefront of developing new digital experiences for storytelling.

How to win a Webby

One of the most important things for people wanting to win a Webby is to create work that you are passionate about. I truly believe that the best projects are the ones that people have put their love and their sweat and their tears into. That’s the work that rises to the top.

There’s a website called Curb Free with Cory Lee that won in Best Personal Website last year. Cory is a disabled man—he’s in a wheelchair—and he travels around the world and blogs about it. He has sixty thousand followers, and his mission is to enable those fellow disabled followers to travel around the world as well, He gives them advice on how to navigate the world. Another example is a woman from the U.K. named Lauren Mahon, who won a Webby for a social campaign. It’s called GIRvsCANCER. She’s young — she’s like thirty-something — and she got breast cancer. When she was diagnosed and was looking on the internet, she realized that everything was pretty depressing, all of the information out there was pretty depressing , so she started an Instagram account created the hashtag #GIRLvsCANCER and started posting about her experience and raising awareness for young women to get checked for breast cancer and doing interesting stunts to raise money. She ended up raising about 50,000 pounds for cancer charities.

Another, final example is the website Hodinkee, which is an editorial site for watch lovers. It won in Website Best Practices this year. The site is designed really beautifully. It’s written so well; it’s funny, it’s smart and kind of sexy, and it’s just people that really care about what they do and they love watches.

The digital media I can’t live without

I know it sounds simple, but I’m really into the Books application on my iPhone is one of my favorite things. I started using it last year when I had a baby and I was up in the middle of the night all of the time. Social media was not very interesting to me at three o’clock in the morning, so I started reading. I wanted to decrease the amount of time I was spending on Social Media so I started reading the Michelle Obama book on my phone, and it’s just so convenient. One of the amazing things is that when it turns dark, it automatically turns to night mode, so you can read in the dark and not disturb a sleeping baby.

The other thing on the internet that I’m totally into at the moment is a Canadian dancer on Instagram. His name is Donté Colley, and he is amazing. He is one of the best and most positive things on the internet. He posts affirmations and dance routines, and he really is the greatest thing about Instagram at the moment.

This interview was condensed and edited for clarity.

Magenta is a publication of Huge.