Sam Liebeskind
@sammy.bsky.social
Product strategist @ New_ Public - creating better digital public spaces
Idk if follow friday is still a thing, but felt like doing a little thread to shoutout some of the people whose thinking & work around community and online spaces I've been appreciating recently...
August 15, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Idk if follow friday is still a thing, but felt like doing a little thread to shoutout some of the people whose thinking & work around community and online spaces I've been appreciating recently...
As our team at @newpublic.org explores the idea of building a new, sustainable social product for local communities (think: a healthier alternative to Nextdoor or town-wide FB groups), I wrote up some of our initial thinking about how it all might work...
🧭🏘️📲 Exploring a new social product for local communities
We’re seeking local partners for collaboration as we pilot new concepts and designs
newpublic.substack.com
May 13, 2025 at 7:16 PM
As our team at @newpublic.org explores the idea of building a new, sustainable social product for local communities (think: a healthier alternative to Nextdoor or town-wide FB groups), I wrote up some of our initial thinking about how it all might work...
Reposted by Sam Liebeskind
New_ Public Co-Director @deeptidoshi.bsky.social writes in @ssireview.bsky.social about how flourishing local digital spaces could be the next major cornerstone of civic infrastructure.
Empowering local community stewards and finding new business models are important steps along the way.
Empowering local community stewards and finding new business models are important steps along the way.
Local Digital Spaces Are Essential Civic Infrastructure (SSIR)
With traditional community spaces underfunded and neglected, investing in the health of our online gathering places has become essential.
ssir.org
April 10, 2025 at 1:42 PM
New_ Public Co-Director @deeptidoshi.bsky.social writes in @ssireview.bsky.social about how flourishing local digital spaces could be the next major cornerstone of civic infrastructure.
Empowering local community stewards and finding new business models are important steps along the way.
Empowering local community stewards and finding new business models are important steps along the way.
The problem of social platforms isn’t algorithms. It’s algorithms that we don’t get to understand or control.
March 28, 2025 at 9:30 PM
The problem of social platforms isn’t algorithms. It’s algorithms that we don’t get to understand or control.
Great exploration of different ways to design systems that give people more control over their algorithms
arxiv.org/pdf/2409.03247
by @leijiew.bsky.social, @cqz.bsky.social, @axz.bsky.social, and a couple of others
arxiv.org/pdf/2409.03247
by @leijiew.bsky.social, @cqz.bsky.social, @axz.bsky.social, and a couple of others
arxiv.org
March 25, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Great exploration of different ways to design systems that give people more control over their algorithms
arxiv.org/pdf/2409.03247
by @leijiew.bsky.social, @cqz.bsky.social, @axz.bsky.social, and a couple of others
arxiv.org/pdf/2409.03247
by @leijiew.bsky.social, @cqz.bsky.social, @axz.bsky.social, and a couple of others
A really great breakdown of how different types of social media algorithms work knightcolumbia.org/content/into...
Into the Driver’s Seat With Social Media Content Feeds
knightcolumbia.org
March 10, 2025 at 8:53 PM
A really great breakdown of how different types of social media algorithms work knightcolumbia.org/content/into...
Love the potential of this...
"Staying informed about your community shouldn’t be a chore. Civic Sunlight delivers concise summaries of local government meetings straight to your inbox, saving you time and keeping you civically engaged."
civicsunlight.ai
"Staying informed about your community shouldn’t be a chore. Civic Sunlight delivers concise summaries of local government meetings straight to your inbox, saving you time and keeping you civically engaged."
civicsunlight.ai
Civic Sunlight - Get the inside scoop on local decisions.
Stay informed, not overwhelmed. Civic Sunlight delivers local government meeting summaries to your inbox in a format that's easy to read.
civicsunlight.ai
November 25, 2024 at 5:07 PM
Love the potential of this...
"Staying informed about your community shouldn’t be a chore. Civic Sunlight delivers concise summaries of local government meetings straight to your inbox, saving you time and keeping you civically engaged."
civicsunlight.ai
"Staying informed about your community shouldn’t be a chore. Civic Sunlight delivers concise summaries of local government meetings straight to your inbox, saving you time and keeping you civically engaged."
civicsunlight.ai
Local Facebook groups and other online spaces for towns & neighborhoods can be amazing, or awful.
This new guide from our team at @newpublic.substack.com is full of advice for mods and admins who want to make their spaces more uplifting & inclusive
newpublic.substack.com/p/just-launc...
This new guide from our team at @newpublic.substack.com is full of advice for mods and admins who want to make their spaces more uplifting & inclusive
newpublic.substack.com/p/just-launc...
🚀 📒 Just launched: Your essential guide to local digital community building
Best practices for creating and maintaining a public-spirited online space for your neighborhood, town, or city
newpublic.substack.com
September 24, 2024 at 2:40 PM
Local Facebook groups and other online spaces for towns & neighborhoods can be amazing, or awful.
This new guide from our team at @newpublic.substack.com is full of advice for mods and admins who want to make their spaces more uplifting & inclusive
newpublic.substack.com/p/just-launc...
This new guide from our team at @newpublic.substack.com is full of advice for mods and admins who want to make their spaces more uplifting & inclusive
newpublic.substack.com/p/just-launc...
Reposted by Sam Liebeskind
Are you the creator, admin, or moderator of an online space for people in your local community? Do you strive to make it inclusive, uplifting, and public-spirited?
Introducing our Neighborhood Steward Fellowship!
Deadline: May 20 🗓️
Introducing our Neighborhood Steward Fellowship!
Deadline: May 20 🗓️
Neighborhood Steward Fellowship | New_ Public
An eight-week program bringing together leaders of local-oriented online spaces to experiment with fun new practices and ideas
newpublic.org
May 10, 2024 at 5:07 PM
Are you the creator, admin, or moderator of an online space for people in your local community? Do you strive to make it inclusive, uplifting, and public-spirited?
Introducing our Neighborhood Steward Fellowship!
Deadline: May 20 🗓️
Introducing our Neighborhood Steward Fellowship!
Deadline: May 20 🗓️
Reposted by Sam Liebeskind
📣🚨📣🚨 If you help run a digital space for your local neighborhood, town, or city, we want to hear from you! Think: a Facebook group, Subreddit, email list, or forum.
We're are hoping to chat with a few people in the US, in exchange for a small stipend.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
We're are hoping to chat with a few people in the US, in exchange for a small stipend.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
April 5, 2024 at 5:13 PM
📣🚨📣🚨 If you help run a digital space for your local neighborhood, town, or city, we want to hear from you! Think: a Facebook group, Subreddit, email list, or forum.
We're are hoping to chat with a few people in the US, in exchange for a small stipend.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
We're are hoping to chat with a few people in the US, in exchange for a small stipend.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
A beautiful zine for and by people thinking about the future of social spaces on the internet
Includes a fun little piece I wrote on what digital product designers can learn from the field of urban planning
sublime.app/zine
Shoot me a DM if you want a discount code :)
Includes a fun little piece I wrote on what digital product designers can learn from the field of urban planning
sublime.app/zine
Shoot me a DM if you want a discount code :)
December 8, 2023 at 4:01 PM
A beautiful zine for and by people thinking about the future of social spaces on the internet
Includes a fun little piece I wrote on what digital product designers can learn from the field of urban planning
sublime.app/zine
Shoot me a DM if you want a discount code :)
Includes a fun little piece I wrote on what digital product designers can learn from the field of urban planning
sublime.app/zine
Shoot me a DM if you want a discount code :)
Are more people creating tools that make it easy for people to create their own @bsky.app feed using natural language (i.e. I could say "make me a feed for posts related to sports from anyone I follow")?
@skyfeed.app's "Feed Builder" and @skyline.gay by @louis02x.com are the best I've seen so far
@skyfeed.app's "Feed Builder" and @skyline.gay by @louis02x.com are the best I've seen so far
October 20, 2023 at 8:10 PM
Are more people creating tools that make it easy for people to create their own @bsky.app feed using natural language (i.e. I could say "make me a feed for posts related to sports from anyone I follow")?
@skyfeed.app's "Feed Builder" and @skyline.gay by @louis02x.com are the best I've seen so far
@skyfeed.app's "Feed Builder" and @skyline.gay by @louis02x.com are the best I've seen so far
Reposted by Sam Liebeskind
⚠️Digital Community Researchers & Practitioners⚠️
What research/insights re:encouraging healthy digital communities do you wish more tech builders/designers were aware of?
I’m refreshing our lit review on digital communities/community stewardship at New_ Public & would love to include your work!
What research/insights re:encouraging healthy digital communities do you wish more tech builders/designers were aware of?
I’m refreshing our lit review on digital communities/community stewardship at New_ Public & would love to include your work!
September 27, 2023 at 5:57 PM
⚠️Digital Community Researchers & Practitioners⚠️
What research/insights re:encouraging healthy digital communities do you wish more tech builders/designers were aware of?
I’m refreshing our lit review on digital communities/community stewardship at New_ Public & would love to include your work!
What research/insights re:encouraging healthy digital communities do you wish more tech builders/designers were aware of?
I’m refreshing our lit review on digital communities/community stewardship at New_ Public & would love to include your work!
Have there been any social networks that limited the amount of times each person could post per day or week? BeReal (1x/day), Retro (1x/week), and I know Minus was an experiment where you had 100 posts for life (slightly different concept). Any others?
August 22, 2023 at 3:26 AM
Have there been any social networks that limited the amount of times each person could post per day or week? BeReal (1x/day), Retro (1x/week), and I know Minus was an experiment where you had 100 posts for life (slightly different concept). Any others?
Good new resource for anyone looking for a job / looking to hire in the "impact-tech" space
https://www.tekalo.org/
https://www.tekalo.org/
June 9, 2023 at 1:37 PM
Good new resource for anyone looking for a job / looking to hire in the "impact-tech" space
https://www.tekalo.org/
https://www.tekalo.org/
Wrote up an overview of decentralized social networks for non-technical folks - maybe a little too 101 for most folks here, but I hope it's helpful for anyone trying to wrap their head around all the different emerging protocols https://newpublic.substack.com/p/the-summer-of-decentralized-social
May 18, 2023 at 3:50 PM
Wrote up an overview of decentralized social networks for non-technical folks - maybe a little too 101 for most folks here, but I hope it's helpful for anyone trying to wrap their head around all the different emerging protocols https://newpublic.substack.com/p/the-summer-of-decentralized-social
Reposted by Sam Liebeskind
Wrote about content moderation questions, the "nazi bar" problem, impossible tradeoffs, & why I'm still kinda optimistic about how Bluesky/AT Protocol moderation could work: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/05/04/on-social-media-nazi-bars-tradeoffs-and-the-impossibility-of-content-moderation-at-scale/
May 4, 2023 at 6:29 PM
Wrote about content moderation questions, the "nazi bar" problem, impossible tradeoffs, & why I'm still kinda optimistic about how Bluesky/AT Protocol moderation could work: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/05/04/on-social-media-nazi-bars-tradeoffs-and-the-impossibility-of-content-moderation-at-scale/
bullish on the concept of AI summarization of social platform conversations like Narwhal is doing - especially if you can make it prioritize / focus on the views & sentiments of ppl you follow (https://alpha.thenarwhalproject.com/welcome)
What other apps are playing with this kind of thing too?
What other apps are playing with this kind of thing too?
April 14, 2023 at 3:08 PM
bullish on the concept of AI summarization of social platform conversations like Narwhal is doing - especially if you can make it prioritize / focus on the views & sentiments of ppl you follow (https://alpha.thenarwhalproject.com/welcome)
What other apps are playing with this kind of thing too?
What other apps are playing with this kind of thing too?
I'm excited to meet everyone! I'm thinking a lot these days about the future of digital public spaces (aren't we all?) so if that's your kind of thing, say whats up
April 11, 2023 at 7:37 PM
I'm excited to meet everyone! I'm thinking a lot these days about the future of digital public spaces (aren't we all?) so if that's your kind of thing, say whats up
Hi new bluesky friends ☀️☀️☀️
April 11, 2023 at 7:34 PM
Hi new bluesky friends ☀️☀️☀️