Eli Pariser

Today’s one for the history books: Mastodon is becoming an independent non-profit, and Bluesky is supporting #FreeOurFeeds taking their AT Protocol in the same direction.

Young people are rebelling against Big Tech 😎🤘 They’re rethinking how AI’s role in society and sharing ideas on what it should look like. TOMORROW Oct 29th @ 6pm EST: Hear from 18 ReThink Citizens Youth Coalition innovators as they pitch the ideas and early-stage solutions.

Let’s supercharge the digital culture of the open social web! The Social Web Foundation is offering grants up to $20k for developer/creator teams creating content for the open social web! Folks who are interested should apply by Wed. Nov. 4th or reach out to SWF with questions.

Engaged California spent over five months & nearly 30 hours talking with Californians about how they want AI to be “built, used, & governed.” This rare, transparent, deliberation process is a reminder that decisions about AI development should move at the speed of trust — not the other way around.

The open web is not a panacea. @werd.io, @jskstanford.bsky.social Journalism Fellow, founder, and tech builder, reminds us how important it is to balance openness and safety when building the digital commons. newpublic.substack.com/p/why-this-p...

Everything comes back around: news organizations are once again building their own apps. With search and social traffic falling off a cliff, a new wave of experimentation is surging through app stores. archive.is/dVpPz

Around the same time Mark Zuckerberg was creating Facebook, @werd.io — writer, founder, investor, and tech builder — was creating an open source social network. Instead of becoming a billionaire, Ben set about building technology with the potential to make the world more informed and equal.

Our Co-Director @eli.bsky.social went The Curve, the Golden Gate Institute for AI’s annual gathering of some of the smartest AI thinkers — including some show-stealing sci-fi writers for some much needed futurism 🤖✨🧙

Melissa Bell, CEO of Chicago Public Media, previews chicago.com, a local community platform powered by Roundabout: localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/posts/2026/1...

Who *really* made Facebook, X/Twitter, etc...? As @irrational-tech.wsocial.eu states, social media's power lies with the people ✊ irrationaltechnology.substack.com/p/social-med...

Join New_ Public Co-director @eli.bsky.social at @alltechishuman.bsky.social’s Responsible Tech Summit. He’ll be discussing rebuilding the digital commons in the AI era alongside Workday Foundation, The Rithm Project, & @civichealthproject.bsky.social. Taking place in NYC, Oct 29th! Register here:

“There are no public pipes for the flow of civic news and information. The Jersey Bee exists to be exactly that: local public infrastructure for the people who need it most.” Simon Galperin, Founder of The Jersey Bee, writes about why the news closest to us is often is the least accessible:

Can social media make us social again? To answer that question, @vardon.world from @sparkable.cc, Filip Gaman from @monnett.social, and @jonathanstray.com from @mysky.social talk financial incentives of social tech, how to bring users to alternative platforms, and bridging algorithms:

Thank you to everyone who applied to our Entrepreneur in Residence pilot! We received over 600 applications from solo founders with a hunch about how to make the Internet a little more human and a lot more informative. We’ll have an update on our first residents soon! 🌐💭

How do you allow people to connect one-on-one, for things like coordinating coffee chats and free item pickups, without creating a vector for spam and abuse?: In response to community member requests, our team came up with an elegant solution: Direct Replies

Information designer and author Giorgia Lupi believes that we’re using AI for the wrong part of the creative process. It can’t replace the “slow part” of discovery, listening, and thinking — but it can support the iterative process afterwards. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

A mother fighting for justice. A Gen-Z innovator rebuilding technology. Teens everywhere reclaiming their attention. OUT TODAY: “Your Attention Please” investigates how social media is designed to hijack our attention & introduces the people building it differently. www.yourattentionplz.com/watch

Repeat after us: Public media CAN be cutting-edge! 😎 Chicago.com, our partnership with @wbez.org & @chicago.suntimes.com, is part of a new wave, where public media organizations are meeting newer audiences where they’re at (online) and building BETTER digital spaces for them to gather.

Have you ever heard of “calm technology”? Think about how a teapot never competes for your attention until the exact moment you need it — when the water is boiling. Unlike social media apps, your teapot isn’t sending push notifications to your teenager at 3AM, trying to coax them back online. 🙄

What if you had an algorithmically-sorted feed, but YOU chose what to rank and prioritize? @jonathanstray.com and @noupside.bsky.social’s new project, @mysky.social, lets you tune and experiment with your own feed, exactly how you want it. 🎚️https://www.mysky.social/

Our latest newsletter takes on one of the most persistent myths in social media: that everything could be fixed w/ a reverse chronological feed. 🔄⌛https://newpublic.substack.com/p/meet-the-algorithm-you-can-actually

We are not a-Mused 😤

A surprising stat from Murmuration’s new report, “Life in the Digital Age”: 57% of Americans use social media daily, and more say it usually leaves them feeling drained (18%) than happy (17%). murmuration.org/research/how...

New_ Public’s @joshpkramer.bsky.social shows what it looks like to manually control your social media algorithm with @mysky.social, a new experimental feed project. Just like the 🍔👑 says… Have it your way!

We often think of AI as fueling online polarization, but new research suggests that — with the right rules in place — AI-powered tools might be able to help build healthier, more thoughtful conversations at scale. Emphasis on having the right rules in place! 👇 dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10....

@josephcox.bsky.social of @404media.co has had a front row seat to the various ways personal AI agents are being set loose on the internet, including: 🤖 joining video calls for no reason 🤖 releasing albums of AI music 🤖 wasting money 🤖 sending emails and posting online

How did Roundabout go from a well-researched idea to an app piloting in communities across the US? It all starts with @newpublic.org Co-Director @eli.bsky.social sharing how we realized that reliable local info is a real need for many people and communities: newpublic.substack.com/p/your-towns...

Recipe for a fantastic dinner party vibe: ✉️ send the invites 🎵 curate tunes 🍝🍹provide vittles and libations 💡 set an intention for the evening 🚪 make sure no one overstays their welcome Doing this every day is what separates great online community stewards from simply “moderators”.

Social media algorithms don't allow us to understand or control what we see online and why... until now! Top scholars @jonathanstray.com and @noupside.bsky.social are sharing @mysky.social, a tool that allows users to adjust their feed’s priorities and explains why certain posts appear over others.

An important milestone with Roundabout: Promising signs of civic participation in our North Chattanooga, TN, Roundabout community, where the most-clicked link in a recent newsletter was a local voter lookup tool 🗳️ This is a great example of @newpublic.org’s Civic Signals 👇

Social media is often full-scale rhetorical warfare, but that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be online conflict. Priya Parker says there's another way: “healthy heat: the willingness to hold tension, with care, long enough for it to become clarifying.” theisolationjournals.substack.com/cp/215506446

@anildash.com warns that “cancer capitalism” is what happens when venture capitalism, meant to only be a small portion of an investment portfolio, grows uncontrollably, to the detriment of the entire economy. www.anildash.com/2026/09/02/c...

We do not need to “accept all cookies” when it comes to tech innovation for the sake of innovation 😤 Atlantic writer @cwarzel.bsky.social and @hasanminhaj.com discuss how people are rejecting AI and pushing back — unlike the initial widespread acceptance of social media. youtu.be/z7lQdkiQfo4?...

Thanks to AI-powered tools, coding is more accessible than ever, but that doesn’t mean builders have decentralized tech know-how. Grey Area is offering an online course called “Beyond Big Tech” for community builders and designers building alternative tech futures! Apply by September 24th

We love seeing local news organizations playing an active role in building community and conversation 👏 On the 24th, New_ Public Co-Director @eli.bsky.social will be @texastribune.org Festival to discuss the impact of “Democracy in the Age of AI” alongside fellow journalism and tech experts.

Less than 36 hours left to submit your application!!📝

Where there is emerging technology, there are creative technologists playing in the space between art and tech 🌻💻🧑‍🎨 Turns out play and creativity have a long history in tech — thank you, Ioana Adriana Teleanu, for sharing this timeline on creative technologists!

⏰Get your Entrepreneur in Residence applications in by September 9th! This virtual residency is for anyone who has an impactful tech idea to improve social connection and/or local information environments — but needs the resources, community, and organizational support to make it real!

Big Tech has been lying to us: they CAN make their platforms safer — and these rules can be applied globally. Meta Oversight Board member @nighatdad.bsky.social in @techpolicypress.bsky.social: www.techpolicy.press/meta-owes-th...

For thriving online groups, finding the right community stewards is everything. These aren’t just moderators — they’re unicorns 🦄 Stewards need to be entrepreneurial, emotionally intelligent, and discerning. @clockwerks.bsky.social, leading Roundabout @newpublic.org, lays it out in @niemanlab.org:

Friend of New_ Public Darryl Holliday argues for civic media stewardship, invoking both New_ Public’s work with Roundabout and suggesting a broader meaning: www.amacad.org/daedalus/civ...

Our new virtual residency: 💸 Competitive stipend 🤝 Hands-on product and strategy support 📚 Access to 5 years of original research 🌐 A world-class network Application and FAQs at the link below. Deadline: Sept 9, 12pm PST newpublic.org/eir

Dead internet theory, the idea that AI will completely replace human internet content and activity, is wrong, or at least incomplete. 👇 Our analysis of why people use social media shows that humans aren’t immediately replaceable, especially in connection, belonging, and storytelling work.

For 50 years, we’ve had public media as a non-commercial alternative to what Newton Minow called the “vast wasteland” of for-profit media. Look at social media: slop, lies, fighting. The internet is also a vast wasteland. Once again, we need public media. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHSj...

Do you want three months to bring an idea to life? Managing Director at New_ Public, @angelquicksey.bsky.social, on the ideal candidate for our new Entrepreneur in Residence pilot. Deadline: Sept 9, 11:59pm PST newpublic.org/eir

Our words create our reality — and our future. Here are a few terms that came out of our research on AI’s impact on social media and connection. We hope these help us discuss, debate, and imagine a healthier future together.

We are JUST scratching the surface of what’s possible with social technology. Do you have a form-breaking idea for an app or digital platform that connects or informs people? We’re offering you three months to organize your thoughts: newpublic.substack.com/p/what-if-yo...

Neighbors in Sedona, AZ, share about the disconnect between the Mad Max, vitriolic version of their community they see on Nextdoor, and the real Sedona they see with their own eyeballs 👀 It’s possible to have healthy digital public spaces for our communities, not this sedona.biz/nextdoor-doe...

NEW: We are piloting a three month virtual residency, for two entrepreneurs with bold ideas for making the internet more human and healthy. This is a paid opportunity to spend time exploring and building, and go from early hunch to conviction and clarity. Apply here by Sept 9: newpublic.org/eir

⭐We’re hiring for a Content & Community Lead at Roundabout, our local community app!⭐ This senior role will own content & audience strategy for Roundabout. We’re looking for someone who can help bring the best parts of the local newspaper, community bulletin board, & online community to neighbors!