New_ Public’s own @absp.bsky.social, a UX Researcher and sociolinguist, has a really useful piece on how researchers should be thinking about AI-based fraud, and what to do about it.
Go Abby! 💪🦾
This is the year the internet changes. We have two options: (1) We harden the internet against the bots. (2) We give the bots the internet. And we build something separate for ourselves—the humans. - @kevinroose.com www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/p...
Technologist/podcaster @rabble.nz calls Roundabout, our new local community app in closed beta, “the Good Place version of Nextdoor.”
In an interview with Bluesky’s @jay.bsky.team, they talk about how New_ Public is moving from research & critique ➡️ building flourishing digital public spaces.
"ROUNDABOUT RICHMOND" page showing left sidebar with Home, Feed, Guides, and Calendar navigation, plus "New Post" button. Main content area displays a row of six circular icons with labels underneath: "Info & Updates" (purple with chat bubble icon), "Help & Recs" (yellow/gold with person at desk icon), "People & Lore" (pink with profile in frame icon), "Saving Money" (peach/orange with money/wallet icon), "New To Town" (dark green with waving hand icon), and "Local Biz" (light purple with storefront icon). Below the row of six circular icons with labels is a "Welcome to Roundabout Richmond!" heading with "Edit Note" option. Welcome text explains: "Roundabout Richmond is designed to help you connect with your neighbors, share local information, and build real relationships in your community. You're joining during the beta phase, so there will be rolling improvements over the next few weeks. Thank you so much for joining us! We hope to shape this space together to be what our community needs." Signed by "- Liza & Sam, Richmond Roundabout stewards" with "Liza P" shown with "Steward" badge below.
With Roundabout, our new local community app, we’re reimagining a lot of familiar surfaces and features of “social media.”
Here’s how Roundabout is different:
Let’s dive in! 🧵
Six months ago, I joined New_ Public to help build a new social platform for local communities. Today, I could't be more excited and proud to share what our amazing little team has cooked up, and is launching in closed beta this week.
Learn more at joinroundabout.com
At PDN we focus on designs that improve outcomes on any online platform, but for digital spaces to truly serve communities prosocial design needs to be part of a platform's core. That's why it's so exciting to see this new platform from @newpublic.org go public and enter beta!
joinroundabout.com
Screenshot of a community website called "Roundabout Sesame Street" showing a highlights feed. Left sidebar contains the site name in brown text, navigation menu items (Home, Feed, Guides, Calendar), a black "New Post" button, and an Updates section with a user named Sam Bird. Main content area displays a "Highlights" section with posts from community members. First post is from Bach Bui dated 11/16/2025 about a holiday market opening this weekend, with 1 reply, 0 likes, and a "Helpful" button. Second post is from Dati Harper posted 5 minutes ago about starting a board game club, asking for interested participants and discussing flexible timing options, with a reply button, 0 likes, and a "Helpful" button. Additional posts are referenced including one from Sam Bird about local hobby groups and another from Sam Bird about food insecurity resources from the Food Pantry. Posts are displayed in white card-style containers against a light blue background.
Social media feeds amplify stuff that’s “engaging” (i.e. controversial, polarizing).
On Roundabout, our new local community app, we’re experimenting with Highlights, a feature where trusted stewards curate relevant posts for the community.
Let’s see if they’re better recommenders than algorithms!
Oof. The Platformer analysis was also damning.
"Shame, that once-great regulator of social norms and executive behavior, has all but disappeared from public life. In its place is denial, defiance, and the noxious vice signaling of the investor class."
www.platformer.news/roblox-ceo-i...
Stoked to share this news from New_ Public: Our local work has come a long way from hunch to product—a new social platform for local communities!
These feel like really nice companion pieces on the impact of FYP on creators, artists, writers.
🎁 Gift Link: Patreon's CEO is Building an Algorithm That Doesn’t Rot Your Brain www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/o...
👀 Post-social media by Rachel Karten www.milkkarten.net/p/social-med...
Tense is an understatement. This was a deeply embarrasing and bizarre interview for CEO David Baszucki that should make every parent wonder if Roblox cares about their young users' privacy and wellbeing.
🟡 My report on Public Service Media and Democracy in the Digital Age, ft. insights from leading thinkers @ethanz.bsky.social @idpiumass.bsky.social @publicspaces.net @angelquicksey.bsky.social @newpublic.org @vpro.nl @felixsimon.bsky.social @reutersinstitute.bsky.social @zizip.bsky.social 🟡
Both Eli and Angelica Quicksey — a strategy wiz at New_ Public — were interviewed for this report, along with a host of other smart people we admire.
Read the whole report here: www.bbc.co.uk/rd/articles/...
Purple background featuring a quote from Eli Pariser, Co-Director of New_ Public. The quote reads: "The peril is tighter, smaller filter bubbles where the group chat replaces social media and reduces cross-connection and serendipity. The promise is a move to some mezzo-level spaces that are not a billion people all vying for attention in one space, but that are bound at a human scale."
One major trend in a recent report from the BBC: people are growing tired of the increasingly commodified and disconnected major platforms, and are seeking out smaller, private digital spaces.
Our Co-Director @eli.bsky.social says “there’s promise and peril” in this approach to social media.
How wild would it have been if it *was* just you?
I jammed my coffee grinder this morning. After 30 minutes of tinkering, it was solved by banging it on all sides and literally turning the dial to 11.
Stoked to have Trei join the team at New_ Public!
If you're wondering what we do at New_ Public, read on! 👇
New_ Public's Local Lab is looking for a founding engineer. The Lab is building a new platform for local community and connection and looking to launch an MVP in 5 communities this year!
As a tech R&D nonprofit, this is an essential role. And you'll get to work with some really great colleagues.
Also a different font 🤔
Cute! But a knockoff. You need that oversized text extending to the sleeves look.
I NEED THIS TSHIRT.
They explore a capailities framework for assessing and designing for individual wellbeing which can foster more inclusive and meaningful online interactions.
She and her coauthor argue that "the current status of digital platforms, marked by their increasing complexity and user dissatisfaction, is not only a consequence of market forces or technological limitations, but also of the philosophical assumptions that guide the design of these platforms."
My incredible colleague Victoria Sgarro just published "The capability approach and a critique of the design of digital spaces" in Oxford's Science and Public Policy journal 🎉
academic.oup.com/spp/advance-...
It's wild how bad the support experience for Apple is if you don't have a working phone. Even with Apple Care, two hour-long trips to the Apple store, an online support request, and multiple phone calls, it's been a week with no phone and no path to resolution. Massive #servicedesign failure.
Are any of you content creators on YouTube or can share this with any creators on YouTube? We're looking to test out a system we've built to enable creators to make custom filters for their comments, no technical skills needed! We offer $20 for a 1 hour remote session where you can try out the tool.
My dear USAID and USDS and 18F and other fed friends: LMK if you need anything! A reference or an introduction or a kind ear. Take care of yourselves!
In a surprising turn of events for an agnostic Jew from Maine, earlier this week I found myself at the Vatican, face to face with Pope Francis. What was especially inspiring is that we have a startling amount in common when it comes to our hopes and ideas for the future of the internet.
🧵
