Jacob Kramer-Duffield
@jaykaydee.bsky.social
Consulting on audience strategy, audiostrategy.org
Writing a book for @beltpublishing.bsky.social
Teaching digital sociability and ethics, NYU-Tandon
ACT-UAW Local 7902
Ph.D., UNC-SILS
Fmr audience data WNYC, NYMag, Megaphone
jkd.10 on Signal
Enjoys birds
Writing a book for @beltpublishing.bsky.social
Teaching digital sociability and ethics, NYU-Tandon
ACT-UAW Local 7902
Ph.D., UNC-SILS
Fmr audience data WNYC, NYMag, Megaphone
jkd.10 on Signal
Enjoys birds
Pinned
Since I am apparently on a starter pack or something: hello! I'm JKD. I have been bopping around the Internet for a long time, used to work in politics, got my Ph.D. studying digital identity, worked in-house in media on analytics and audience, and now consult on that and teach about Online. (1/n)
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
The enduring legacy of Trump 2 - and really, unbridled Stephen Miller - will be that government can claim vastly more power than anyone thinks, and it should use it as quickly and ruthlessly as possible. Will be fascinating to see how this strategy plays out in the hands of progressives
December 27, 2025 at 4:46 PM
The enduring legacy of Trump 2 - and really, unbridled Stephen Miller - will be that government can claim vastly more power than anyone thinks, and it should use it as quickly and ruthlessly as possible. Will be fascinating to see how this strategy plays out in the hands of progressives
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
I started a newsletter in 2025 following a @niemanfoundation.bsky.social just so I'd have something to do with all the stuff I was reading in the stacks about US radio history and how it resonates with and shapes media, particularly podcasting, today. A 🧵 of fav posts: continuous-wave.beehiiv.com
Continuous Wave
A newsletter and site exploring the forgotten history of broadcast and how it shapes our world. Powered by Julia Barton and radio.
continuous-wave.beehiiv.com
December 27, 2025 at 4:10 PM
I started a newsletter in 2025 following a @niemanfoundation.bsky.social just so I'd have something to do with all the stuff I was reading in the stacks about US radio history and how it resonates with and shapes media, particularly podcasting, today. A 🧵 of fav posts: continuous-wave.beehiiv.com
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
ah yes, here comes the moment in the cycle where everyone re-remembers that audio and video each represent a distinct and different communication medium
‘Painful to hear!’ How podcasts’ rush to video is turning them into dreadful listens
‘Painful to hear!’ How podcasts’ rush to video is turning them into dreadful listens
From Joe Marler’s visual-only stunts to the incomprehensible shuffling sounds Steven Bartlett recently subjected headphone users to, dodgy audio experiences are on the rise
www.theguardian.com
December 27, 2025 at 3:32 PM
ah yes, here comes the moment in the cycle where everyone re-remembers that audio and video each represent a distinct and different communication medium
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
Just pure incoherence from a product Google is shipping to billions of people. Also already being hacked by SEO games
December 27, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Just pure incoherence from a product Google is shipping to billions of people. Also already being hacked by SEO games
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
more confirmation that lurking clearly behind this idea of the “heritage american” is a straightforward contempt for the actual history and tradition of this country, such that vermeule has to hallucinate a framework to justify his desire to jettison the clear meaning of the 14th amendment
I had missed this latest delirium by Adrian Vermeule on birthright citizenship
'Common law?! NAH, it's the Roman law of adoption that should govern the interpretation of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution!'
thenewdigest.substack.com/p/immigratio...
'Common law?! NAH, it's the Roman law of adoption that should govern the interpretation of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution!'
thenewdigest.substack.com/p/immigratio...
December 27, 2025 at 12:01 AM
more confirmation that lurking clearly behind this idea of the “heritage american” is a straightforward contempt for the actual history and tradition of this country, such that vermeule has to hallucinate a framework to justify his desire to jettison the clear meaning of the 14th amendment
Snow has begun!
December 26, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Snow has begun!
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
Thread. This is a crucial thing for non-Christian Americans to understand. Most Christian Nationalists think it’s an act of kindness on their part to tell you that you will be going to hell if you don’t convert. It’s incomprehensible to most of them that they’re being bigots.
I'm going to tell my favorite story again about reflecting the certainty of beliefs back at people who don't expect it.
A friend was one of the few Jews on faculty at a North Dakota University. Every year, his colleague in religious studies would invite him to come to his religious studies class...
A friend was one of the few Jews on faculty at a North Dakota University. Every year, his colleague in religious studies would invite him to come to his religious studies class...
December 25, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Thread. This is a crucial thing for non-Christian Americans to understand. Most Christian Nationalists think it’s an act of kindness on their part to tell you that you will be going to hell if you don’t convert. It’s incomprehensible to most of them that they’re being bigots.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
I used to say "nobody gets into developing autonomous cars because they care about people" as a way of explaining why theory of mind and, you know, pedestrians were such foreign concepts in the industry. I regret to inform etc etc most of the 'AI' space.
Their blog posts are so introspective on the agent experience and hardly cover what humans might experience.
*people* are as much a part of their experimental design but practically no consideration.
*people* are as much a part of their experimental design but practically no consideration.
December 26, 2025 at 9:56 PM
I used to say "nobody gets into developing autonomous cars because they care about people" as a way of explaining why theory of mind and, you know, pedestrians were such foreign concepts in the industry. I regret to inform etc etc most of the 'AI' space.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
This was such a fun conversation with three excellent people. @rheisman.bsky.social taught us how to talk to gulls, @jodyallair.bsky.social went long on what it's like to live in a hybridization hot zone, and @n8swick.bsky.social reminded us that Indigo Buntings only show up once the cows leave.
Check out the last TMIB podcast of 2025. I always enjoy being a guest panelist on these episodes, especially when I’m surrounded by some pretty amazing bird people. @marthaharbison.bsky.social @rheisman.bsky.social @n8swick.bsky.social
New American Birding Podcast episode!
Jody Allair, Martha Harbison, and Rebecca Heisman join host Nate Swick for the last American Birding Podcast episode of the year, with a wide-ranging discussion of some of the latest bird and birding news.
Listen here: www.aba.org/09-52-this-m...
Jody Allair, Martha Harbison, and Rebecca Heisman join host Nate Swick for the last American Birding Podcast episode of the year, with a wide-ranging discussion of some of the latest bird and birding news.
Listen here: www.aba.org/09-52-this-m...
December 26, 2025 at 4:37 PM
This was such a fun conversation with three excellent people. @rheisman.bsky.social taught us how to talk to gulls, @jodyallair.bsky.social went long on what it's like to live in a hybridization hot zone, and @n8swick.bsky.social reminded us that Indigo Buntings only show up once the cows leave.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
my favorite thing about McTiernan is that going to prison made him woke www.theguardian.com/film/2023/ju...
December 25, 2025 at 7:00 PM
my favorite thing about McTiernan is that going to prison made him woke www.theguardian.com/film/2023/ju...
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
I loved this. And I want to note the whole “there were no autistic people before …” discourse has an answer here: just the people were sent away in the incarceration (yes “care homes” like this), and if they fled, they were just abandoned by society, usually to die.
December 25, 2025 at 4:56 PM
I loved this. And I want to note the whole “there were no autistic people before …” discourse has an answer here: just the people were sent away in the incarceration (yes “care homes” like this), and if they fled, they were just abandoned by society, usually to die.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
I'm a part of this collective as well, so my biases are what they are, but the one bit I'd add is that at $36 a year it is one of the really good deals out there in Things To Read Online. You can check out some free ones and subscribe at flaminghydra.com
December 24, 2025 at 9:51 PM
I'm a part of this collective as well, so my biases are what they are, but the one bit I'd add is that at $36 a year it is one of the really good deals out there in Things To Read Online. You can check out some free ones and subscribe at flaminghydra.com
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
this is super embarrassing for anyone who endorsed the book because they wanted to be sure their bosses knew they were cool liberals and not like yknow one of those hysterical resitlibs the ultra cool and reliable nate silver hates so much.
A small (personal) example of this book’s intellectual dishonesty:
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media.
Huh? When did I say that?!
December 24, 2025 at 9:45 PM
this is super embarrassing for anyone who endorsed the book because they wanted to be sure their bosses knew they were cool liberals and not like yknow one of those hysterical resitlibs the ultra cool and reliable nate silver hates so much.
This is excellent, give a read (and listen)
I wrote a little thing about "Fairytale of New York" and about hope for a better year, but mostly I wanted to share the rendition of the song played at Shane MacGowan's funeral in 2023 because it's so beautiful. Happy Christmas, I love ya baby. dansinker.com/posts/2025-1...
I've got a feeling / This year's for me and you | dansinker.com
dansinker.com
December 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
This is excellent, give a read (and listen)
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
But we put our trash in bins now. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/24/e...
Eric Adams Reigned Over a Run of Scandal Not Seen Since Boss Tweed
The mayor’s corruption indictment capped a string of criminal charges, FBI raids and abrupt resignations that destroyed his popularity and took down his crony-laden palace guard.
www.thecity.nyc
December 24, 2025 at 12:50 PM
But we put our trash in bins now. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/24/e...
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
cars and delivery trucks in bike lanes - they are literally risking people's lives.
cars that double park in front of an illegal spot. You're still blocking the driveway or hydrant. Just commit and don't fuck up the flow of traffic.
cars that double park in front of an illegal spot. You're still blocking the driveway or hydrant. Just commit and don't fuck up the flow of traffic.
Let’s air those grievances. I want to hear your pettiest gripes on this the holiest of days.
December 24, 2025 at 3:51 AM
cars and delivery trucks in bike lanes - they are literally risking people's lives.
cars that double park in front of an illegal spot. You're still blocking the driveway or hydrant. Just commit and don't fuck up the flow of traffic.
cars that double park in front of an illegal spot. You're still blocking the driveway or hydrant. Just commit and don't fuck up the flow of traffic.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
Btw this is one of the biggest reasons why it’s not as easy as people think to start up independent newsrooms or just be an indie journalist on substack. If you are actually holding powerful and rich people to account, you WILL need legal representation. Not a matter of whether but when
I say that as someone who has started newsrooms from scratch sometimes with two people - if you’re doing your job correctly you will need a lawyer because the first thing rich people do when you write something they don’t like is threaten you legally. It’s cheap for them and expensive for you
December 23, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Btw this is one of the biggest reasons why it’s not as easy as people think to start up independent newsrooms or just be an indie journalist on substack. If you are actually holding powerful and rich people to account, you WILL need legal representation. Not a matter of whether but when
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
There's some other interesting stories here. Search usually accounts for >50% of all traffic, but this year it was only at 41%, the lowest since 2013.
LinkedIn only started breaking in to the top 10 in 2023. This year it was the third largest social referrer after Bluesky and The Facebook.
LinkedIn only started breaking in to the top 10 in 2023. This year it was the third largest social referrer after Bluesky and The Facebook.
Southern Fried Science social media traffic, 2025:
Bluesky is the clear winner, with 12,000 visitors.
Facebook: 9300
LinkedIn: 3100
Pinterest: 1600
Instagram: 900
Reddit: 700
Twitter: 600
Is 2020, with roughly the same traffic, Twitter drove 6,000 visitors.
Bluesky is the clear winner, with 12,000 visitors.
Facebook: 9300
LinkedIn: 3100
Pinterest: 1600
Instagram: 900
Reddit: 700
Twitter: 600
Is 2020, with roughly the same traffic, Twitter drove 6,000 visitors.
December 23, 2025 at 11:22 PM
There's some other interesting stories here. Search usually accounts for >50% of all traffic, but this year it was only at 41%, the lowest since 2013.
LinkedIn only started breaking in to the top 10 in 2023. This year it was the third largest social referrer after Bluesky and The Facebook.
LinkedIn only started breaking in to the top 10 in 2023. This year it was the third largest social referrer after Bluesky and The Facebook.
This is just going straight back to uncut Norman Vincent Peale Thought.
Trump: "Anybody that disagrees with me will never be the Fed Chairman!"
December 23, 2025 at 6:51 PM
This is just going straight back to uncut Norman Vincent Peale Thought.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
I would love to see a hallmark movie that reflected my reality which is the lady goes home from the small town to the big city and just spends the whole trip eating bagels and american chinese food.
In the hallmark movies where the lady goes back home from the big city, they never talk about the game she must play pretending that the ethnic food in the small town is anywhere near as good as her family thinks it is. Just grimacing while eating mid Thai food.
December 23, 2025 at 6:03 PM
I would love to see a hallmark movie that reflected my reality which is the lady goes home from the small town to the big city and just spends the whole trip eating bagels and american chinese food.
This is so, so good. Give it a read.
For @rollingstone.com, I wrote about the making of the myth of sheriff Buford Pusser, and how recent revelations that he was likely responsible for the 1967 murder of his wife, Pauline, undercuts that myth -- and begs for a new narrative about intimate partner violence and family trauma.
He Was a Legendary Sheriff Who Inspired a Movie. Did He Also Murder His Wife?
When Buford Pusser’s wife was killed, his grief turned into the movie ‘Walking Tall.’ But a new report from investigators suggests it was all a lie.
www.rollingstone.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:55 PM
This is so, so good. Give it a read.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
Year 1 data on congestion pricing in Manhattan…
* Vehicle traffic: -11%
* Foot traffic: +3.4%
* Storefront vacancy: -0.9%
* Pollution: -22%
* Revenue for mass transit: $548M
So YES this has been a huge success.
* Vehicle traffic: -11%
* Foot traffic: +3.4%
* Storefront vacancy: -0.9%
* Pollution: -22%
* Revenue for mass transit: $548M
So YES this has been a huge success.
December 23, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Year 1 data on congestion pricing in Manhattan…
* Vehicle traffic: -11%
* Foot traffic: +3.4%
* Storefront vacancy: -0.9%
* Pollution: -22%
* Revenue for mass transit: $548M
So YES this has been a huge success.
* Vehicle traffic: -11%
* Foot traffic: +3.4%
* Storefront vacancy: -0.9%
* Pollution: -22%
* Revenue for mass transit: $548M
So YES this has been a huge success.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
The economy is a paranormal entity that our greatest dimensional scholars (macroeconomists) understand only superficially. They have induced a variety of changes in it by manipulating arcane forces like "money supply" with some success. But it remains protean and unpredictable.
December 23, 2025 at 2:42 PM
The economy is a paranormal entity that our greatest dimensional scholars (macroeconomists) understand only superficially. They have induced a variety of changes in it by manipulating arcane forces like "money supply" with some success. But it remains protean and unpredictable.
This is the whole thing.
Domain-specific solutions require you to understand the problem, which requires domain expertise and/or user research.
But that requires decision-makers to admit ignorance.
Bolting an LLM onto every product doesn't require understanding the problem AND makes investors happy you're "innovating."
But that requires decision-makers to admit ignorance.
Bolting an LLM onto every product doesn't require understanding the problem AND makes investors happy you're "innovating."
It's maddening hearing folks talk about LLM use-cases within their tools that would seem to be so much more effectively and reliably addressed by simple domain-specific implementations of solutions.
December 23, 2025 at 3:02 PM
This is the whole thing.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
Yes. Eric Adams had "an actual werewolf" do it when he was sworn in and no one was able to stop him, or even get him to explain why.
So wait I'm unfamiliar with NYC politics; can you really just have anyone swear you in if you're elected mayor there?
Senator Bernie Sanders will administer the oath of office to New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani during his public swearing-in ceremony at City Hall on January 1. trib.al/ylTzosO
December 23, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Yes. Eric Adams had "an actual werewolf" do it when he was sworn in and no one was able to stop him, or even get him to explain why.