newpublic.org - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Sijal Nasralla listened to a podcast, joined a Discord and became active in the Fortnite channel. Before he knew it, he felt like he was back at an OG early 2000’s LAN party! Through the people he played with on Fortnite, Sijal found unexpected connection, solidarity, and friendship.

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A beautiful rumination on prototyping from friend of New_ Public Sara Hendren: “The poetry of prototyping is the vulnerable attempt, the tangible trying. The willingness to venture, knowing it might fail.”

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Is there any hope for the internet? New_ Public Co-Director @eli.bsky.social sees hope in the community stewards who care for small digital groups. “When they're empowered, and when they have the tools that they need, they can do amazing things in bringing people together.”

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🏘️ Want to help reimagine social media for local communities? New_ Public is hiring a Community Engagement Associate to work directly with community stewards across America — the people who create and sustain neighborhood digital spaces. Fully remote, USA/Canada, through June 2026.

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Bluesky CEO @jay.bsky.team is right, we need to stop thinking of social media as a zero-sum game that platforms are “winning” or “losing.” Why not measure friendships, or genuine connection? We need to rethink what we value in our online tools for socializing.

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I’m fascinated by this chart: the gap between what people think goes viral and what they think SHOULD go viral Now if we could only make the companies tell us (and researchers!) what actually goes viral… From this smart post: www.centerconflictcooperation-newsletter.com/p/changing-t...

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New_ Public is hiring our first ever AI Fellow! We’re seeking a curious person with high EQ who is interested in harnessing AI to enhance the creativity, efficiency, and capability of our team. (Coding skills not required!)

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What do multiplayer video games have that social media lacks? According to Sijal Nasralla, there’s often depth, relationality, and community that “exceed far beyond the shallowness of a like, comment, or follow.”

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Not my area, but damn that sounds like a cool job for a person with front end skills, and a social conscience.

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Curious about Community Notes, the tool developed by Twitter and now being adopted by Facebook and others? Next Wednesday at 1pm EST, join @jayb.bsky.social, Community Notes Lead on X, for a discussion hosted by our friends at @prosocialdesign.bsky.social (who label Community Notes as “convincing”)

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🚀 Hiring: Creative Technologist & Frontend Engineer Join the Public Spaces Incubator team! Alongside designers, researchers and our public media partners, help create open-source tools for prosocial public conversation. Ready to make an impact? Apply now! ✨

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People are using AI to fact-check breaking news photos from LA protests because they can't trust social media anymore. Plot twist: AI is often getting it wrong. We solved misinformation by creating... more misinformation? archive.is/lDKWI

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New_ Public Co-Director @eli.bsky.social and @projectliberty.io founder Frank McCourt talk with @rightsduff.bsky.social about how the internet was meant to give us more liberty, freedom, and agency. Eli: “We don’t have to live in a monarchy, we can build public things.”

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@hankgreen.bsky.social's MIT commencement: “We've got social content platforms that are great at steering our curiosities. But sometimes, they're great at steering it toward things that make us afraid or keep us oriented toward only the most impossible problems or the hottest rifts in society.”

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In Embedded, Kate Lindsay tracks how internet culture is being devalued in favor of AI and politics. Exhibit A: journalism orgs aren’t hiring reporters to cover it. They’re happy to leave writing about internet culture to freelancers and independent journalists.

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Want to write for our newsletter? We’re looking for great pitches and better writers. Have something to say about community stewardship, local online groups, alternative social media, civic health and clubs, or the intersection of journalism and social media? More info at the bottom here:

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Former CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada Catherine Tait gave an inspiring, uplifting convocation at BU’s j-school on a superpower of journalists: local storytelling “At the local level we have responsibilities and connections to our neighbors, to our communities. We are never anonymous or led by algorithms”

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

Sam Pressler and Soren Duggan write about how “we’re glued to our screens, we’re disconnected from our neighbors, and we experience a civic life that has become centralized, undemocratic, and expensive.” And yet, there’s hope. connectivetissue.substack.com/p/from-organ...

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

There's something about the idea of two billionaires sniping at each other from, as the NYT put it, "their own social media platforms" -- that is, the platforms they each own -- that encapsulates something deeply deeply off about the current era

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JamiiAfrica once helped topple a prime minister in Tanzania. It’s also a forum with innovative approaches to moderation and stewardship. Could its model of journalism and community stewardship work in the West?

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@andypiper.me from Mastodon on our collective attention crisis: 😦 We gradually surrendered control of our digital lives, we didn’t lose it all at once 😀 Alternative models prioritize user choice, community ownership, and authentic interaction 🥳 Communities excel at synthesizing genuinely new ideas

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@geoffreyfowler.bsky.social writes in @washingtonpost.com about how Gen Z testers from @designitforus.bsky.social poked holes in the new version of Instagram meant to be safer for teens and stave off congressional regulation. “Instagram’s Teen Accounts can’t be relied upon to actually shield kids.”

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Journalist, entrepreneur, and friend of New_ Public Jenn Brandel writes about the role local journalists have in civic renewal and rebuilding community connection. Jenn calls for shifting “the reporter’s role from merely documenting community life to actively supporting its flourishing.”

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📄RESEARCH: Is one way to ease political tension as simple as watching a respectful conversation? Researchers found that watching a 50-minute documentary decreased polarization among viewers. This is pretty scalable! bridgeentertainmentlabs.org/wp-content/u...

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This is wonderful data essay from Pew on social trust in America They explore the uneven levels of trust in different populations and ask evocative, illustrative questions in their survey. How likely are you to bring in mail or water plants for a neighbor? www.pewresearch.org/2025/05/08/a...

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RESEARCH: This survey of local Danish Facebook groups is one of the best in-depth studies we’ve seen of online group stewardship. There are amazing insights here about why people use these groups, what it takes to care for them, and why it can be so hard to keep going.

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You can enjoy Mountainhead without a deep dive into the tech world its enmeshed in, but there’s a lot of fun stuff to unpack. So let’s dive! Also, I offer my guesses for who everyone is supposed to be in real life.

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This nonprofit uniquely blends investigative journalism and smartly-moderated regional community forums Our latest newsletter features JamiiAfrica, a fascinating case study in community-building & tech for democracy. Dive in:

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Recently, a number of New_ Public's friends published a smart position paper on how AI might be effectively marshaled in service of healthier conversation online. There are some great ideas here, including community-trained LLM moderation that support stewards and facilitate dialogue!

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New_ Public Co-Director @deeptidoshi.bsky.social joins AJ Escoffery to talk about our vision for healthy digital public spaces. You don't want to miss Deepti talking at length about what she's learned about stewardship from helping her eight year old son create a pop-up backyard restaurant

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Friend of New_ Public @anildash.com on the complex and evolving dynamics of consent online. “Technology should only ever do exactly what we have explicitly given it our consent to do”

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New_ Public is seeking a... Senior Software Engineer, PSI: help create tools that strengthen public conversation, social trust, and civic engagement Staff UX Researcher, Local Lab: we need someone with research skills, strategic thinking abilities, and a collaborative mindset

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We had a great panel last month on "hyperlocal heroes" — the people, practices, and platforms that finding and sharing key local info. Here's a one sheet of key takeaways and new areas to explore more.

submitted 25 days ago • 1 comment

This commencement speech from @cande313.bsky.social is such a powerful, inspiring vision for the future of local journalism. "You are not inheriting a broken system. You are becoming the architects of something new ... You are not the hero of the story, the community is."

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What do Wikipedia, Buy Nothing groups, and GoFundMe links have in common? They gather and share what already exists in our communities (information, resources, money) — AKA gift economies. We’ve only just begun understanding their value for public-spirited digital spaces!

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New_ Public is working with six public media institutions around the world in Public Spaces Incubator. We are hiring a Senior Software Engineer to help create tools that strengthen public conversation, social trust, and civic engagement. newpublic.org/jobs/softwar...

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Front Porch Forum co-founder and CEO Michael Wood-Lewis: “Unlike big tech social media, which is trying to pull you in and hold you in 24/7, we really just want you for five or ten minutes a day, and then please put the phone down and go outside and talk to your neighbors”

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Do you have exceptional user research skills, strategic thinking abilities, and a collaborative mindset? If you're passionate about creating more engaging, inclusive, healthy, and impactful online communities, you might be the perfect Staff UX Researcher for our Local Lab.

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Grounded in Robin Wall Kimmerer’s latest book, The Serviceverry, writers @kellypendergrast.bsky.social and @annapendergrast.bsky.social look at the power of reciprocity and gift-giving in various digital spaces. newpublic.substack.com/p/the-unexpe...

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

The latest @newpublic.org newsletter is written by me and @kellypendergrast.bsky.social. In it, we explore how concepts in Robin Wall Kimmerer's 2024 book The Serviceberry might manifest in digital projects and online spaces. newpublic.substack.com/p/the-unexpe...

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New_ Public is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join our global coalition of public service media organizations. Are you interested in building healthier online spaces for connection and discussion? Learn more and apply here:

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments