Twitter could have been built very differently. @blaine.bsky.social, one of the earliest architects of Twitter, built a version inside the company that worked like Mastodon or @bsky.app today. Even their lead investor backed it. So what happened? Listen to the full story, ep out now. Link below.

What if the hashtag never came to be? @blaine.bsky.social, one of the earliest architects of Twitter, explains why he told @chrismessina.me to stop pursuing hashtags. Full episode out now.

Twitter chose virality over safety with the @ mention. @blaine.bsky.social, the creator of the @ mention on Twitter, on the design decision that opened the door to harassment. Full episode with @rabble.nz out now.

Is fun inherently political? @karenattiah.bsky.social says the most successful movements in history knew that dance clubs & sports weren't luxuries. They were necessary tools to build resilience to keep fighting. That's why excitement over the Knicks & ‪@divine.video matters so much.

Why do institutions choose power over people? @karenattiah.bsky.social sat next to Bezos at dinners, won awards, and was on the inside at @washingtonpost.com. Now she's in professional exile. Full episode with @rabble.nz, out now.

Ghanaian journalists were using Twitter before most of the world knew what it was. They showed @karenattiah.bsky.social how it could be used as a tool for accountability, and shaped how she used social media throughout her journalism career. Full episode with @rabble.nz, out now.

How the @washingtonpost.com's behavior leads to the Saudification of America. The same institution that paraded @karenattiah.bsky.social around as a beacon of press freedom fired her when speaking truth became a liability. Full episode with @rabble.nz, out now.

Do you remember Behind the Vine? Eric Artell, the creator and host, discusses the origin of one of the internet's first comedic interview shows and how it gave Vine creators a voice beyond six seconds. Full episode out now with @rabble.nz.

Twitter started out as a podcasting company. When they pitched it to @npr.org, NPR said no one will ever listen to podcasts. Eric Artell joins @rabble.nz to reflect on how Behind the Vine was a video podcast before video podcasts were a thing. Full episode out now.

Social media promised to get rid of gatekeepers. But gatekeepers also protected celebrities. So when Vine stars showed up in Hollywood with no agents or protections, they were on their own. Full episode with Eric Artell and @rabble.nz, out now.

The most successful creators are the ones their audience can truly relate to. Eric Artell joins @rabble.nz this week to discuss how Vine helped build that kind of community and why Divine is bringing it back. Full episode out now.

For many Vine creators, Behind the Vine was the first time they had ever sat down for an interview. @rabble.nz joins Eric Artell, former host of Behind The Vine, to talk about the golden age of Vine, creator culture, & the mental health realities of social media youtu.be/VODgZC_oPMQ

Founder and CEO of @divine.video, @rabble.nz, says the quiet part out loud: "you shouldn't depend on me making arbitrary calls about YOUR audience.” The full episode with Reggie Couz is out now.

Being a creator has never been just about talent, it’s about adaptability. The full episode with Reggie Couz, out now.

Every platform you use now was once "the dumbest idea anyone's ever heard." Twitter’s first employee, @rabble.nz, on what people said to his face. Full episode out now.

"That's what Vine felt like. Whatever idea you have, shoot it right now." OG Viner Reggie Couz joins @rabble.nz to reflect on the early days of Vine and how authentic ideas and community were the key to building a real audience. Full ep out now.

Who wins when Big Tech gets regulated? Not who you think. Meta and TikTok have armies of lawyers, unlike smaller platforms like @bsky.app, @flipboard.com, & @divine.video. @mmccue.bsky.social argues proposed regulations don't protect us from Big Tech, they prevent smaller platforms from existing.

AI companies aren't asking to be regulated out of responsibility, they're doing it to lock out competition. Unlike social media giants, OpenAI & Anthropic have no competitive moat. @masnick.com argues they're inviting regulators in because it's the only way to stop rivals from catching up.

Meta doesn't want Section 230 reform to protect you, it wants to eliminate competition. Section 230 protects platforms from being sued for how they moderate content. @masnick.com argues Meta only turned against it when TikTok got big & they stopped being dominant.

Why did Vine really shut down? 20 creators who lived together at 1600 Vine Street in Hollywood, met with Vine & demanded $1M each or they were walking. @taylorlorenz.bsky.social breaks down how Vine never figured out how to make money and why that ultimately killed it.

Is there a future for social media? @bridgettodd.bsky.social has an answer: decentralized platforms. Where you choose your algorithm and no one person controls your feed. Full episode with @rabble.nz out now.

One default camera setting made Vine feel totally different. While Snapchat defaulted to selfie mode, Vine chose to the outward facing camera. That single choice gave people a candid glimpse into each other's lives & created a tight-knit community unlike anything else. @taylorlorenz.bsky.social

Can you really leave Substack? Substack was built on the promise that creators could leave whenever they wanted, taking their audience & payments with them. Then they built an app, started processing payments through Apple & Google Pay, & now if you leave, you lose everything.

What happens when GenAI writes and sells a fake biography about you on Amazon? @sophiasgaler.bsky.social found 63 of them being sold in two months, including one “about” her. She flagged the inaccuracies to Amazon, who removed all 63, but non-journalists have not had the same success.

How did Burning Man inspire the founding of social media? Rabble, one of Twitter's first employees, went to Burning Man six months before launching Twitter, and says the same culture built both. Equal on the surface, but full of power dynamics nobody wants to acknowledge.

Why does a viral video reach more people than CNN primetime? @rabble.nz went on @cnn.com live & had 100k viewers, way less viewers than a viral TikTok. @sophiasgaler.bsky.social breaks down why short-form video is now the single most powerful tool for reaching audiences online. Full ep out now.

Can fact-based journalism go viral? @sophiasgaler.bsky.social (former BBC & Vice journalist) joins @rabble.nz to explore why short video is now the most powerful tool journalists have to reach audiences. 🤖 How users game algorithms 📖 AI's biography about her 🌍 Why languages are disappear Out now.

How did crypto buy the White House? Coinbase's CEO didn't like a crypto bill. Hours later, the hearing was canceled. @molly.wiki and @rabble.nz break down how the crypto industry moved from the margins to pulling strings at the center of US politics. Full ep, out now.

Sam Altman has a solution to his AI taking your job. Universal basic income, paid in crypto. @molly.wiki breaks down how Worldcoin pitched a crypto-based UBI for the workers OpenAI would put out of work. This means Sam Altman is both creating the problem & profiting from the solution. Ep out now.

Can Elon Musk buy Wikipedia? Wikipedia Editor @molly.wiki explains why it's impossible. @wikipedia.org is run by a nonprofit with no owner to buy it from, unlike Twitter. Its content is written by thousands of editors whose opinions all carry equal weight. Full ep, out now.