iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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/

Recommendation algorithms make choices about whose voices receive attention, which subjects dominate a conversation, what kinds of behavior get rewarded, and what each of us comes to understand as important. In other words, they perform some of the basic functions that shape a public sphere. So what would it mean to give people real control over those algorithms?

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 11h

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

Engagement is a key signal for every recommender system used by a Big Tech company today. Systems that relentlessly optimize for engagement can amplify outrage, clickbait, and falsehoods. Yet purely chronological feeds are not an ideal solution either: whoever posts most often gets to be the loudest, it’s difficult to discover interesting people outside of your network, and experiments with Facebook and Instagram actually found that chronological feeds increased the amount of untrustworthy content.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 28/09/2026

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...

A grouped horizontal bar chart from Murmuration (source: 7,449 Americans surveyed July–August 2026) titled "Social media's hold on people is deeply ambivalent: they keep coming back even though many don't like how it makes them feel." It shows reasons people return to social media, broken out by age group (18–30, 31–45, 46–60, 61+). Top reasons vary by age: entertainment and habit skew younger, while keeping up with friends and family rises sharply with age (54% for 18–45, up to 65% for 61+). Other categories include staying informed, shopping, work, following public figures, and activism.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 25/09/2026

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!

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 24/09/2026

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....

A Jigsaw diagram titled "Where AI could improve Deliberations / Collective Dialogue Systems," noting it is illustrative and may not reflect every permutation of a CDS or deliberation. Steps are labeled with "HU" (Human) or "AI" icons to indicate who performs each task. The visible steps in a numbered sequence are: 01 — Train Facilitators: Human trains facilitators on CDS design, recruitment, moderation, results analysis, and communication; AI extends human trainer capacities through LLM Assistants and retrieval augmented generation (RAG). 02 — Recruit Participants: Human decides on best approach and selects participants. 03 — Educate Participants: Human curates educational content and diverse perspectives; AI customizes educational materials based on preexisting knowledge, uses generative social choice to convey diversity of expert opinions, and offers a fine-tuned LLM Assistant for interactive Q&A. Arrows indicate the sequence continues to steps 04 and 05, which are partially visible at the bottom.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 23/09/2026

We saw this in our research on how AI is reshaping the internet. The big social platforms are now: less social, full of slop, and full of bots. newpublic.org/afterthefeed

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 22/09/2026

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”.

Brundrett sees community stewards as more than just moderators — almost like a “really great dinner party host,” he explained, whose role is more proactive than reactive. “It’s somebody who is thinking about, ‘hey, what do I want this to be?’ And they’re inviting people in, they’re setting the tone.”

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 17/09/2026

The toothpaste is out of the tube: the internet is no longer 100% human, but we should lift up the people who are putting in the time, effort, and care to keep our digital spaces alive and meaningful. www.techpolicy.press/millions-of-...

“Why are Reddit and Wikipedia so much more human than LinkedIn? One reason is that they rely on the work of volunteer caretakers, known as moderators, who curate content and protect community members. The launch of ChatGPT and other generative AI models added a new job for moderators: keeping their communities human—a job that’s as grueling as it is fraught.”

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 16/09/2026

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

“In twenty-five years as a conflict dialogue facilitator, I’ve learned something deeply counterintuitive: long-term communities need love, and they also need conflict. The relationships that last aren’t the ones that never fight. They’re the ones that learn how to fight well.

And yet, when disagreement enters the room, many groups reach for one of two options. We ricochet between unhealthy peace: ghosting, avoiding, quiet resentment, smoothing over with a breezy “No worries!” while privately seething. Or unhealthy conflict: humiliation, domination, takedowns, cancellation, sabotage, public shaming.”

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 15/09/2026

@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...

“Many of the trends in society and politics that people are most angry about, from data centers being forced down everyone’s throats, to all of our favorite apps and services being enshittified, to politicians being paid to ignore the will of the people, are all being supercharged by these cancer capitalists.”

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 14/09/2026

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?...

"We're not just going to consent — we're not going to accept all cookies on your vision of society and the way that humanity goes."

"Couldn't agree more, brother. Reject all."

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 11/09/2026

⭐ This year’s Tiny Awards finalists are open to public vote (and to explore)! In the running are: a digital moth that wanders Wikipedia, summer camp for your mouse, train-timed jazz, organic fonts, and more. tinyawards.net/vote/?2026

“Vote for your favorite tiny awards finalist!” written in Kash Lingat’s “nature keyboard,” an online font that uses images of nature that mimics letters of the alphabet.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 04/09/2026

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!

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 03/09/2026

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...

But whatever else the settlement settles, it ends one long argument about feasibility. Those of us who work on these harms outside the US have spent years being told that defaults like these would break the product, that the answer lay in parental supervision and digital literacy, that regulators misunderstood the engineering. Meta has now demonstrated that substantial changes to the product are possible. Which makes the limits of this agreement harder to ignore.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 01/09/2026

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...

In the digital context, as organizations like New_ Public define it, stewards are volunteers and community leaders working to make online spaces inclusive and public-spirited, setting guidelines, navigating conflict, and deepening social trust. In the civic media context, information stewards are the documenters at public meetings, the community correspondents gathering neighborhood news, the information organizers who help residents access what they need to participate in local decision-making.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 31/08/2026

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.

Light blue background with teal "Connection Survives" label. Left side states "The human 'advantage' lies in the areas of connection, belonging, and creative expression." Right side shows chart with gradient bar from "HUMAN ADVANTAGE" to "AI ADVANTAGE." Six categories listed: Connecting & Belonging (26 jobs, LOW AI replacement), Expressing & Creating (17 jobs, LOW), Coordinating (19 jobs, MEDIUM), Influencing & Earning (24 jobs, MEDIUM), Enjoying & Escaping (22 jobs, HIGH), Learning & Deciding (26 jobs, HIGHEST). Each category includes example tasks.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 27/08/2026

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

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 26/08/2026

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.

Agentic interfaces: An AI interface built for an audience of one to provide information and connection. Able to provide a personalized briefing of your own context.

AI-supported stewardship: Using AI-powered tools to nurture and maintain a healthy digital community space. Stewards can sometimes benefit from AI support as a community grows.

Hybrid public square: An internet that supports both humans and AI agents. Similar to a physical public square, this is a space designed around democratic participation, accessibility, and communal experiences.

Software abundance: Describing the phenomenon of widespread digital software creation with AI-powered coding tools. More digital products and platforms are entering the market. Builders can now create bespoke, smaller digital experiences that match specific community needs.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 25/08/2026

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...

If you have a wild idea that looks nothing like what’s come before, but is still about humans connecting to humans or local and civic information environments, that's awesome. If you're trying to reimagine how people communicate with one another using technology, great! Everything shouldn't be Facebook-shaped.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 20/08/2026

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...

“Yet anyone reading the platform regularly could easily conclude that Sedona is collapsing, that the city government is hopelessly corrupt, that every public decision is a disaster, and that neighbors are permanently at war. That is not the Sedona most of us experience. It is the Sedona manufactured by an algorithm that rewards conflict."

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 17/08/2026

Media thinker @werd.io shares his enthusiasm for chicago.com, @roundabout.town's new partnership with Chicago Public Media! werd.io/notable-link...

Still, this is a significant, brave development, particularly for US media, and is notable for its scope and ambition. It’s incredibly rare for a news organization to put their neck on the line and truly build new technology that up-ends existing paradigms. A new kind of social space for one of America’s largest cities fits that bill. Conversely, working with local media orgs — people who already understand their local communities deeply and are active in them — is a great way for New_ Public to build a platform that is safer and less toxic than something like Nextdoor. Roundabout has a bunch of its own features that help provide this safety; the focus on conversation over profiles or clout, and Nextdoor’s notoriously racist “suspicious person” posts are banned.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 12/08/2026

@deeptidoshi.bsky.social, a New_ Public Co-Director, shares the secret sauce separating healthy, sustainable Facebook groups from the ones that explode into chaos or burn out from conflict: the good ones have a dedicated steward, someone who cares for, maintains, and nurtures the space.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 11/08/2026

Around the world, people who use social media apps as their main source of news say that they do a bad job, according to a new report from @reutersinstitute.bsky.social. Despite that lackluster performance, social media is now how a majority of adults get their news from social media in the U.S.

Line chart tracking where people in the U.S. are getting their news from 2013 to 2026 with four trend lines. Orange solid line labeled "Any online" starts at 75% in 2013 and ends at 77% in 2026. Teal solid line labeled "TV" starts at 72% in 2013 and declines to 45% in 2026. Orange dashed line labeled "Social media" starts at 27% in 2013 and rises to 56% in 2026. Purple solid line labeled "Print" starts at 47% in 2013 and declines to 8% in 2026. Right sidebar shows "Also" with News podcasts at 14% (-1) and AI chatbots at 6% (-1). Y-axis shows percentages from 0% to 100%, x-axis shows years 2013 to 2026. Note at bottom indicates "Any online" includes news websites/apps, social/video networks, news podcasts, and AI chatbots.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 10/08/2026

We’ve been missing the point talking about “decentralized” social media, says New_ Public’s @blaine.bsky.social. In this conversation with @rabble.nz, they talk about what’s needed to create a healthier, more human internet. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX8P...

The point of these so-called decentralized protocols is not to separate us. It's to allow us to collaborate and cooperate…

It's less about this sort of atomization and more this cooperative approach to how we think about society on the internet.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 04/08/2026

As Casey says, users “place a premium on trust” and will leave if they think these apps are full of synthetic content. So where will they go? If recent patterns hold, users will seek out smaller, more private digital space. See our recent research here: newpublic.org/afterthefeed

"Emerging Trust Economy" label at top left. Large text reads "People are already choosing trust over reach." Below is a screenshot of an article headline that reads "The group chats that changed America” Right side reads: "As the open internet fills with synthetic engagement, people are migrating their real social lives to smaller, more private spaces. Group chats, Discord servers, WhatsApp groups, private channels. Maggie Appleton popularized the term 'cozy web' to refer to these spaces — where people know who they're talking to and where norms protect them. Yancey Strickler describes the same migration as a flight from the 'dark forest' of the internet: people retreat to quiet places when the open web becomes hostile. This is happening at every scale, from neighborhood WhatsApp groups to elite group chats where political and business decisions get made."

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 03/08/2026

Imagine a comment space where both a 10 year old and an investigative reporter can thrive 🤝 See PSI’s toolkit in action in our latest newsletter, from New_ Public’s Expert-in-Residence @cjtait.bsky.social. newpublic.substack.com/p/how-public...

Purple background with a comment from Public Space Incubator’s tool in collaboration with Radio-Canada, dated April 10. Post reads: "Hello, where is the capsule's door? Which way will the astronauts exit? Beatrice, 10 years old". Comment is in response to an article about the Artemis II mission.

Purple background with a comment from Jean-François Thériault with "Journalist" title, dated February 16, marked "Amended". Post text reads: "Hello, thank you for your question. The report contains a detailed history of the business relationship between the SAAQ and its suppliers, LGS and SAP. The commissioner does not directly blame them, but details a series of strategies employed by private firms to get paid more, and faster."

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 30/07/2026

Younger audiences are abandoning public media sites for social media news updates, but at the same time, social platforms are abandoning people through misinformation and toxicity. @cjtait.bsky.social sees an opportunity for public media to once again host thoughtful, healthy conversation.

“It felt like a double jeopardy for the democracy that public broadcasting aims to hold up: the deterioration of public discourse on our digital services and the loss of our future audiences to other platforms.”

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 28/07/2026

In less than a year, folks using our local community app Roundabout have shared over 2,000 local events across just a few pilot communities! 📅🎉 Unlike most social media apps, Roundabout encourages neighbors to build connection OFFLINE, in the real world. Here’s to another 2,000 gatherings!

Roundabout North Chatt interface showing calendar view. Left sidebar displays navigation menu. Main content shows July 2026 week view (July 20-26) with July 25 highlighted in blue. Four events listed: Heatwave Half Marathon - Chattanooga on SAT 25 at 7am at Tennessee River Park Pavilion 2; Monthly Volunteer Event: Rain Garden Workshop at 8:30am at Red Bank High School; Autism Field Day on July 25 at 9am at Washington Hills Community Center; Chattanooga River Market (weekly outdoor market) at 10am at Tennessee Aquarium Plaza.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 24/07/2026

The Community·Computer Interaction Lab published a toolkit of 23 design patterns naming the small, often invisible ways people care for one another in online communities, “inspired by cultural practices … that offer a way of seeing what usually stays in the background.” c-cilab.com/care-pattern...

Light gray background with text "A TOOLKIT FROM THE C-CI LAB" at top. Large bold black heading reads "Patterns of Everyday Care" followed by description "A toolkit to help notice and design for the subtle, everyday ways people care for one another in online communities." Three interactive buttons displayed: black rounded button labeled "How to read a pattern →", white button labeled "Browse the collection", and gray text link "Get the materials".

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 20/07/2026

Whether or not you agree with social media bans for teens and kids, we agree with @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social that this is just the beginning. We can build better, healthier, and more accountable digital public spaces. time.com/article/2026...

Better online spaces can now emerge
Finally, there are concerns that keeping kids off social media platforms will deprive them of access to information and important communities, and will limit their ability to express themselves. They see age minimums as an infringement on children’s rights. Governments should take these concerns seriously. But based on what has already happened in Australia, we believe age minimums will create a larger market for platforms that are both safer for young people and more conducive to authentic speech.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 20/07/2026

How can we make the feed less of a doomscroll and more like a stoop or porch? @rude1.blacksky.team considers @blackskyweb.xyz, the largest Black community on the open social web, as a true third space where folks can chat, hang, and see what’s going on. conference.publicspaces.net/en/session/k...

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 17/07/2026

Unlike the planning of physical spaces, the guidelines and standards for digital public spaces are pretty undefined, says Managing Director at New_ Public @angelquicksey.bsky.social. Which means that communities have far more latitude to build what they truly want and need.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 16/07/2026

So what do we do about this? In recent research, @eli.bsky.social and @angelquicksey.bsky.social suggest that a hybrid public square is possible, but only if humans + agents are guided with explicit rules and transparency. This could be a viable third path, but only if we act now.

A diagram from Hybrid Public Square titled "For most online content, both humans and AI will be involved in production." A horizontal color bar spans four categories from left to right: Fully human (human-authored, no AI involvement), AI-assisted (AI helps the human draft and publish), Human principal, transparent agent (agent acts on your behalf, but you're accountable), and Autonomous agent (no clear principal). Below the bar, a bracket groups the middle two categories as the "Transparent Agent Economy" — agents attached to disclosed human principals — and a second bracket groups the rightmost category as the "Dark Agent Economy" — agents with no disclosed principal, where you can't tell who sent them or whose interests they serve.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 16/07/2026

There is a growing debate about the future of the internet: will it be fully compromised by bots? Can humans and AI-powered agents coexist online? This isn't exactly hypothetical: recent data from @pangram.com found 41% of longer posts on LinkedIn in recent months were flagged as fully AI content.

A heatmap table from Pangram titled "AI is prevalent across social media, most of all in longform," showing the share of items flagged as fully AI-generated across five platforms for shortform (50–250 words) and longform (250+ words) content, Apr–Jun 2026. LinkedIn has the highest AI rates (30% shortform, 41% longform), followed by Medium (28%, 31%). X/Twitter shows a large gap between shortform and longform (9% vs. 29%), while Reddit is lowest overall (3%, 13%). Substack is the only platform where shortform exceeds longform (12% vs. 10%).

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 14/07/2026

L. M. Sacasas is not letting us blindly stumble into this AI era without really learning hard lessons from the social media era. theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/your-ai-is...

I confess that I am astounded by how blithely some insist that it is all as simple as learning to use AI well, as if we had not just undergone a nearly 20-year, society-wide experiment showing that a so-called “tool,” say a smartphone or a social media platform, will (mal)form even the most vigilant and virtuous user into its own image and shape.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 10/07/2026

🌌 We’re excited to show you another great addition to the "growing constellation of interconnected apps" on the open web: Bonfire🔥 Bonfire helps build spaces for communities, outside of the Big Tech social platforms, that are shaped by the people who will use them, for exactly what they want.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 08/07/2026

“We're trying to make publishing more fun and more social!” 🎉🥬 Thank you, @schlage.town! One of our Honorable Mentions at the Open Social Awards, @leaflet.pub embodies the spirit of the open social web in the publishing space by allowing independent writers to really own and control their writing.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 07/07/2026

Not all communities are the same, and neither are their rules. Linguist and New_ Public’s Staff Researcher for Public Spaces Incubator Abby Bajuniemi shares her thoughts on Substack’s latest community moderation feature: Reply Rules newpublic.substack.com/i/203756028/...

What’s really great about this is that it allows authors control over how they shape the community they’re building. One-size-fits-all moderation guidelines don’t always work for every community, especially when those communities use what linguistics professors like me call “reclamation,” terms and phrases that, from someone outside of the community, would be considered slurs or vulgar language. But when used for reclamation within the community, this language works as community bonding, as empowerment. I have optimism that Reply Rules will work well to hide obvious abuse, but I am less confident it will do a good job hiding posts that are covertly or subtly abusive, and I wonder about how it will deal with useful or desirable reclamation behaviors.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 06/07/2026

“Never before in human history has power over the flow of information been so concentrated in the hands of a few American billionaires.” Hear from @iame.li, Founder and CEO of @stream.place. Streamplace is one of the Open Social Award’s Honorable Mentions open web projects 🏆 newpublic.org/OSA

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 02/07/2026

A healthy democracy thrives on debate. We don’t want toxic and chaotic spaces, but sanitized, hyper-civil spaces aren’t the goal either. As @angelquicksey.bsky.social, Managing Director at New_ Public, says here, we benefit from respectful conversations with lots of friction, even arguments.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 01/07/2026

@dandelion.events is a fee-free AT Proto-powered ticketing platform run by a worker cooperative. They help community organizers and small organizations run events without locking that information in a single closed app. Dandelion is one of our Open Social Award Honorable Mentions!🏆newpublic.org/OSA

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 30/06/2026

As new media reshapes how we talk and where we gather, what should philanthropy organizations be prioritizing? Friend of New_ Public and social impact strategist Maxwell Zorick encourages us to “go where the grass is growing” even if it’s less familiar. mediainmotion.substack.com/p/media-in-m...

A blue slide with two side-by-side boxes and a rightward arrow between them, all in yellow-green text. The left box has a solid border and is headed "While we have been preserving…" with two points: "Protecting the information systems of yesterday (television, newspapers, etc.)" and "Defending against the rise of new platforms (AI, social video, platforms, etc.)." The right box has a dashed border and is headed "We should be reimagining…" with two points: "Envisioning what democracy and community engagement looks like with unprecedented tools." and "Supporting adaptable leaders with agile capital who are dreaming of new ways to communicate and inform."

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 29/06/2026

“We believe the heart of social networks are people — not platforms or protocols.” This is @quillmatiq.com from @anew.social, the non-profit behind Bounce. Bounce makes it easy for users to shift between the two biggest open social web protocols: AT Protocol and ActivityPub.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 25/06/2026

@angelquicksey.bsky.social, Managing Director at New_ Public, puts forward a vision for the future of social media where we don’t just have TikTok and X, but also bespoke, cultivated social apps tied to community needs and with higher “nutritional value”.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 24/06/2026

A great report from the Trust for Civic Life on how the best tech solutions are community-first, straight forward, and designed to bring people offline. trustforciviclife.org/wp-content/u...

An infographic titled "Digital Spectrum: Identifying the Gaps Between Community Needs and Funder Goals." A horizontal spectrum line spans from "Established Tech" on the left (with bullet points: Websites, CRMs, Online surveys, Social channels) to "Emergent Tech" on the right (with bullet points: AI, Decentralized infrastructure, Advanced deliberation tools, Influencer operations). A label on the left reads "Communities tend to be on this side" and on the right "Funder attention tends to be on this side," with a downward arrow between them.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 23/06/2026

This is Tyler Fischer, the solo builder behind Sill, Excellence Award Winner of the #OpenSocialAwards 🏆 We really do use Sill everyday for finding widely-shared links from Bluesky and Mastodon. It’s an incredibly useful tool that defies the algorithms, ads, and feeds of traditional social media.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 22/06/2026

It’s Tiny Award season! ⭐🏆 Celebrate the spirit of the Indie Web by nominating hand-crafted websites to this year’s awards and perusing some of the previous winners. tinyawards.net

A light lavender background with dark purple text and design elements. In the upper left, the words "Tiny Awards" are written in a cursive serif font inside a thin oval outline. In the upper right, there is a small asterisk-like starburst symbol. Below, two paragraphs of text read: "This is the home of the Tiny Awards, which, since 2023, has celebrated the best of the small, poetic, creative, handmade web." and "The Tiny Awards exist because we thought it was important to shine a spotlight on the sorts of personal web projects that tend to get overlooked by more traditional, larger or more commercial awards."

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 17/06/2026

Social media platforms tend to ban and severely punish rule breakers. But research shows that oftentimes people don’t know the rules or need a reminder that a real person is reading their words. We’re trying something different on Roundabout, our local community app: prosocial pre-moderation tools.

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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 16/06/2026

Here’s @rude1.blacksky.team, Founder and CEO of @blackskyweb.xyz and Excellence Award Winner of the #OpenSocialAwards. Blacksky is a beacon of choice, community, and agency in a bleak social media landscape. They’re building the tools they need and sharing them with everyone.

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