@baratunde.com in conversation with Esther Perel, on how Big Tech platforms are not neutral “town squares”... they’re malls 😬
11.03.2026 15:31
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@baratunde.com in conversation with Esther Perel, on how Big Tech platforms are not neutral “town squares”... they’re malls 😬
The poll showed that people living in news desert counties, defined as those with no professional news outlet based in their county, generally consume news at nearly the same rate as people living in areas served by local newspapers. Moreover, they don’t think of themselves as being deprived of local news sources. They appear satisfied to have social media, TV news and other options to fill the gap.
Have we been thinking about news deserts all wrong?
@medillschool.bsky.social shares how people living in news deserts *really* feel about their access to local news and info.
www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/many...
This is deeply inspiring to us at @newpublic.org, and it’s why our local community app, Roundabout, was built to be compatible with AT Protocol.
Kudos to Jay for building Bluesky — and AT Protocol — into what they are today, and best of luck to her!
The dream of decentralization is power over your social media experience.
Our friends at @modalfoundation.eurosky.social, working to take ATP to the next level, put it this way:
"No single company controls identity, content, or algorithms; AT Protocol is open, interoperable, and un-buyable."
I know infrastructure is not flashy, but in a way, Jay has proven true what many thought was impossible: building a huge, independent platform with an architecture that can be free of billionaire control and open for anyone to build on top of.
@jay.bsky.team is stepping down as CEO of Bluesky, but what I think is arguably her greatest accomplishment is missing from much of the reporting …
Her part in successfully scaling AT Protocol, the decentralized system that powers Bluesky for over 43 million users.
How does AI fit into building better social media? Forget what you think it’s good for: we’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible.
We need to throw out the Big Tech rule book and enable communities to build their own tools.
Why is Nextdoor showing me horrific headlines from the Bronx? Because an algorithm is prioritizing my engagement over my neighborhood.
This matters: platforms like this erode trust, and trust has never been lower.
From my talk at @creativemornings.bsky.social:
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! 💪🦾
The call is coming from INSIDE the house 🏠📢
A former researcher at OpenAI shares about leaving the company because of the plan to introduce ads on ChatGPT.
(gift link!)
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/o...
Cleveland’s 184-year-old daily paper, The Plain Dealer, is using AI to get into the field, make deeper connections, and cover more counties.
www.cleveland.com/news/2026/02...
Just … wow. 🤯
This is a big reason why we’re building Roundabout, our local community app. We need better ways of finding out what’s going on in the neighborhood.
This is a small study, but they’re asking the right questions:
How are habitual AI chatbot users in the US and India actually using AI to learn what's happening in the world and in their communities?
cnti.org/reports/chat... [@cnti.bsky.social]
Our Co-directors, @eli.bsky.social and @deeptidoshi.bsky.social, are proud to sign on New Civic Future’s open letter calling for a deeply rooted, high trust movement of civic renewal.
They ask… “What kind of shared civic life are we called to grow together?”
www.newcivicfuture.org/letter
TOMORROW: watch or join in-person as New_ Public Co-Director @eli.bsky.social gives a breakfast talk at @creativemornings.bsky.social NYC! ☀️☕
Register here ⬇️
“A subscription to news outlets doesn’t just have to provide access to journalism, it can feature participation in journalism.” 👏👏👏
@techdirt.com’s @karlbode.com notes that online comment sections can actually help bring new life to a news organization.
Here's to all the well-designed apps and websites out there (and to the unsung heroes like designer and writer @aresluna.org who gather these resources for our benefit)!
There’s so much creativity and expression to explore outside of the walled gardens of Big Tech’s apps…
“It’s not that companies decide to make their products worse. Nobody wakes up thinking, “Let’s annoy our users today.” The mechanism is subtler and more tragic: Individual contributors need to demonstrate value Demonstrating value requires metrics Metrics create incentives Incentives shape behavior Behavior optimizes for the metric, not the user”
Why would a fitbit buzz to tell you something you already know? How did we end up with all these “enshittified” tech products?
@kentbeck.com lays out how this happens.
His solution? “At some point, you have to have principles. Not metrics. Principles.”
tidyfirst.substack.com/p/my-fitbit-...
We’re trying something new! In the spirit of cutting through the noise and building connections online, New_ Public is starting a bulletin board-style newsletter.
This is a dedicated space for community requests, upcoming events, project updates from our team, and our most thought-provoking links.
Join New_ Public Co-director @eli.bsky.social for a breakfast talk this Friday!
Hosted by @creativemornings.bsky.social, a global community founded by friend of New_ Public @tinarotheisenberg.bsky.social, this month’s theme: Camino (way/path).
Register to join in person in NYC or watch virtually.
Be careful what you prompt for…
New research shows optimizing AI chatbots for engagement can boost disinformation by nearly 190% and override explicit safety instructions, a phenomenon the researchers call “Moloch’s Bargain for AI.”
arxiv.org/pdf/2510.06105
The first step towards creating a better future is taking the time to imagine one. So, as digital optimistics, we loved to see what our friends at Press Forward have envisioned for a better local news in ✨2036✨
@baratunde.com, host of the How To Citizen podcast, explains what makes our new app Roundabout different:
“It's really about finding your neighbors and doing stuff together instead of performing for followers you'll never meet. And it's pretty important that the business model is non-extractive.”
New_ Public Co-director @eli.bsky.social tells legendary @pbsnews.org anchor Judy Woodruff why we need flourishing digital spaces that serve the public, beyond just the for-profit platforms making hundreds of billions from our data.
Want to get more involved in socially responsible tech and improving digital public spaces? We love the great work happening at the Prosocial Tech Collab!
They recently updated their website, laying out the resources and community available to those interested in this field.
prosocialtech.org/
YouTube might actually be changing how we’re encountering and relating to our memories. A 2023 study, which looked specifically at YouTube comments, found that "social media has made instant online access to the recent past a normal part of daily life, making users more prone to expressing nostalgia toward relatively recent experiences." It’s hard to know why these comment sections grow to be so meaningful and resonant over time. Perhaps all it takes is one early comment to set the tone and model a graceful and empathic attitude. Or maybe these comment sections feel like safe places for people who grew up on the internet to build memories together. These comments mostly feel like messages in a bottle, left adrift in the hope that the right person will find them.
What is the relationship between social media and memory?
As our digital footprint ages with us, nostalgia becomes more common. Some comment sections have become rare sources of warmth on the internet.
Infographic on light blue background with purple text. Top left headline reads "Our digital social environments are critical social infrastructure" with "social infrastructure" in italics. Top right shows circular artistic illustration of a futuristic cityscape. Center features white oval containing a quote in purple text: "Social infrastructure refers to the physical places and organizations that shape the way people interact. The digital world was supposed to become part of that social infrastructure, extending it into new spaces." Attribution reads "— Eric Klinenberg, Palaces for the People" in italics. Bottom right shows circular photo of a man in dark plaid shirt. Bottom left text reads "Learn more at newpublic.org"
Social infrastructure makes our communities more resilient and safer. It also prevents isolation and inequality, connecting neighbors and building social trust and belonging.
What if we had digital spaces as vibrant and flourishing as the best IRL social infrastructure?
New_ Public Co-Directors @deeptidoshi.bsky.social and @eli.bsky.social on the kinds of deeper local connection you can sometimes find in the local paper.
We’re building Roundabout, our prosocial community app, to foster local connection online and bring people together offline.
joinroundabout.com
What brought you to the internet? Before the algorithm, before AI brainrot, it was probably a desire to connect and be seen.
Journalist @jessicafurseth.bsky.social shows us that human connection persists in the comments sections of YouTube’s longest, oldest, anti-algorithmic videos.
Yes, we need rules to regulate social media, but new rules on old, Big Tech platforms can only go so far.
We need new platforms, new infrastructure, and a lot of ingenuity to make something better.
joinroundabout.com
