📆 Reminder: applications for the Open Social Awards are due May 1 Seeking MVP products on open protocols! 👉 newpublic.org/OSA

Thursday 4/16, hear directly from game-changing youth who are designing solutions to some of today’s most urgent digital challenges. Builders aged 14 - 23 will present their projects as part of ReThink Citizens’s Youth Coalition Showcase 🚀 luma.com/2evlo3zw

We’re building Roundabout, our local community app, to be as useful as possible, for as many people as possible. But, notably, we’re not here to make a billion dollars. We’re a nonprofit, funded by philanthropy, trying to build Roundabout into a sustainable, resilient org for the long haul. 🧵

👍👍 One of the orgs that defines standards for the internet just gave a BIG thumbs up to AT Protocol, the tech that powers Bluesky. This could be huge for scaling open and independent social apps and websites! More from @dholms.at, head of protocol at Bluesky:

Relational tech is centered around thoughtfully crafted tools that help neighbors care, collaborate, and build trust. Relational Tech Project created an awesome experimental workspace where neighbors can build digital tools to fit their unique community needs. studio.relationaltechproject.org

📢 Call for creative community builders who want to support local bands and musicians! Use our contact form and put “For A.B.B.” at the start of the message to get in touch: newpublic.org/contact

In the foreword of “Internet Sovereignty”, a collection of essays on the future of the internet from @elysian.press, New_ Public’s very own @joshpkramer.bsky.social shares that digital sovereignty is being built right now – and we’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible.

A great write-up on #ATmosphere from New_ Public Expert-In-Residence @cjtait.bsky.social!

Check out this impressive “database of independent journalism creators across platforms, topics and geographies” from The Independent Journalism Atlas! It’s cool to see journalists building their own discovery tools on their own terms, outside of Big Tech platforms. journalismatlas.com

The cool folks from the Eurosky team just brought you a new site: eurosky.tech, portal to the Atmosphere. I'd say it's the crispest explanation so far of what the Atmosphere brings: 1. one account 2. that works with a bunch of apps, and 3. your data from all apps is yours, portable, interoperable.

Communities are not interchangeable or disposable. Break a network and some of those relationships, all that institutional knowledge, are gone forever. @joanwestenberg.com writes eloquently on communities and digital displacement, and how Big Tech is addicted to this cycle of social destruction.

Feedbuilders like @graze.social and @attie.ai are meant for customizing Bluesky feeds. In recent research on something similar, participants were able to focus on their interests, discover relevant content, and engage with social media more intentionally. arxiv.org/abs/2509.10776

The people have spoken – they’re not interested in letting AI companies “move fast and break things” 😤 humanstatement.org

Gitesh Gohel, Chief Product Officer at The Atlantic, explains why the comments section is failing both news orgs and their audiences – and he suggests nine ways that media orgs can reinvigorate meaningful discussion among readers. We’ll share some of our favorites below! youtu.be/Guu-pv6jPR4?...

We announced the Open Social Awards program yesterday! 🥇 Grand Prize: 10K euros 🥈 Excellence Awards: 5K euros 📆 Apply by Fri May 1 We're protocol agnostic, so if you're building something great on any decentralized protocol, we want to hear from you. 👇🏽 More details below

Social media researcher @jonathanstray.bsky.social shares promising results from the Prosocial Ranking Challenge! After testing five algorithms, two approaches showed statistically significant depolarization effects.

Let’s go!! Excited to share the first ever Open Social Awards. We really need alternatives to Big Tech social media platforms that are useful, helpful, and wildly popular. Applications are due May 1!

Announcing our new awards for prosocial builders working on open protocols!

Well, #atmosphereconf has already been a blessing; came to learn about folks building local, small, community stuff, and discovered @newpublic.org is a sponsor. Can't wait to attend this session tomorrow! atmo.rsvp/p/atmosphere...

This feels like a watershed moment. Juries are starting to find that a “free speech” defense can’t shield social media companies from their liability for building addictive platforms with features like infinite scroll, auto-play and reinforcing algorithms. It’s a perfect time for alternatives:

Very excited to be a part of New_ Public's work on the Open Social Awards: bsky.app/profile/newp... Please share and if you've built something cool, apply!

Yes! More of this kind of thing please! Now, can someone establish an open source newsroom tools award?

📢 Announcing the Open Social Awards ✨ Alongside PublicSpaces and Waag Futurelab, we aim to honor the work of independent builders around the world, creating innovative products for the open web! More details below… newpublic.org/OSA

“The next time you use an AI system, ask one question: Is this working for me, or am I working for it? That instinct ... is where sovereignty starts.” Our friends at @projectliberty.io launched their newsletter, and we’re loving this first post on how we can maintain agency when using AI tools:

@susanmcp.bsky.social cuts right to the heart of the matter: "Silicon Valley spent twenty years removing every obstacle to connection and gave us something that looks like it but isn’t."

The @newpublic.org team have a ton of experience in media & compelling products for broad audiences. Thanks to Catherine Tait @cjtait.bsky.social expert-in-residence, Deepti Doshi @deeptidoshi.bsky.social co-director, Angelica Quicksey @angelquicksey.bsky.social internet urban planner.

A healthier internet isn’t just wishful thinking — our friends at the @prosocialdesign.bsky.social have a whole library of research-backed design solutions for building prosocial spaces online, organized by our Civic Signals research! 🧵

Why is @knightfoundation.org investing in Bluesky? “If we care about the First Amendment in practice, we must also care about the architecture that shapes and facilitates speech in our own era. That’s why we believe ATproto was worth investing in.”

FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! 🔥🥵🌶️ Okay, now that we’ve got the algorithm’s (& hopefully your) attention: Our latest Bulletin Board newsletter has great internet finds like upcoming prosocial tech events, new research, & ways to connect! (Sorry if we scared you 😅 but the internet is probably on fire somewhere)

Big tech doesn’t know what tech tools your neighbors need — but your neighbors do. Thanks to changing forces and capacities in tech, communities might have the power to finally build what they need for themselves. And we want to be part of that shift in power 👏

Excited to be in Vancouver next week for @atmosphereconf.org with the @newpublic.org team!

“The real value is not in the single piece of content but in you getting addicted to the algorithm.” A fascinating (and a little unsettling) feature-by-feature breakdown from Enrico Tartarotti on how short-form video content is meticulously designed to control your attention.

A talk that wasn't even on my agenda this a.m. introduced me to @newpublic.org's Roundabout project to build hyperlocal forums on an ATProto foundation, each led by local "steward" members. I see the need for something better than Nextdoor; I need to see more about the sustainability of this.

"Social value does not emerge from technology. It emerges from people — real, local, invested participants who curate, organize, and care for their communities." #prosocial

Have a request for our community of 16k+ newsletter readers? We’d love to share it! Whether you’re looking for collaborators or amplifying an event, we’re gathering community asks and announcements on our “bulletin board” newsletter every month. Share in the comments or on our contact form below:

A day in the life of an enshittificator … Norwegian Consumer Council really nailed it 👏😂 www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Up...

What happens when a digital space is shaped with prosocial design at its foundation? Join New_ Public’s @clockwerks.bsky.social, @blaine.bsky.social, @adit.bsky.social & @sammy.bsky.social for a talk hosted by @prosocialdesign.bsky.social about Roundabout, our local community app! luma.com/5vzxn9vn

@blaine.bsky.social was there at the start of Twitter, over twenty years ago. Now, for the last six months, he’s been building Roundabout, our new local community app. He shares his thinking on where LLMs can fit with open web protocols to empower communities with prosocial tech products and tools.

Welcome to the prosocial, futurist, human side of the internet! 🖥️🌱 As our bio says, we’re “a nonprofit product studio focused on reimagining community, connection, and conversation online.” But what does that mean? If you’re new to us or want a refresher, here’s what New_ Public is all about ⬇️🧵

Join us for Pro-Social with @newpublic.org and the team behind their social platform Roundabout. We’ll talk to them about designing digital spaces that genuinely support healthy local communities. 📅Thursday, March 26, 1pm ET 🎟️ Register: luma.com/5vzxn9vn?tk=...

Tell us about a platform you *LOVED* before it got … well, 💩

I'll be at PublicSpaces in Amsterdam this June. Hope to see you there!

We’re proud to be partnering with PublicSpaces to present The Next Socials — sessions on developing new platforms and products for the open web — at their conference in Amsterdam on June 4-6. Please save the date! More info to come very soon.

@baratunde.com in conversation with Esther Perel, on how Big Tech platforms are not neutral “town squares”... they’re malls 😬

Meta has one platform full of robots talking to each other… and now they also have Moltbook! www.axios.com/2026/03/10/m...

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...

@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.

TOMORROW: For anyone looking to bring more service into their community, US Chamber of connection is hosting a State of Community Service webinar alongside the launch of their new playbook! Register and read the report here:

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.