Episodes

  • Chris Messina on Hashtags, Google+ & the Unintended Consequences of Building Social Media

    Chris Messina on Hashtags, Google+ & the Unintended Consequences of Building Social Media
    Aug 28 2025
    Chris Messina is best known for co-founding BarCamp and giving Web 2.0 the hashtag. Now on Revolution.Social, he joins Rabble to talk about the bigger picture of what has gone right, and wrong, with social media. In this episode, he and Rabble unpack why Google+ failed, the unintended consequences of hashtags, and how algorithms have reshaped our digital lives. They also discuss why defending authentic human connection may be the most urgent challenge for the next generation on the internet. Follow Rabble: ⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠ This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠⁠⁠LightningPod.fm⁠⁠⁠, and executive produced by Alice Chan from ⁠⁠⁠Flock Marketing⁠⁠⁠. To learn more about Rabble’s social media bill of rights, and sign up for our newsletter, visit ⁠⁠⁠https://revolution.social/
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine on AI Slop, Quality Content & Social Media Fragmentation

    Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine on AI Slop, Quality Content & Social Media Fragmentation
    Aug 21 2025
    After the introduction of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, the blogging platform Medium got ten times busier, says CEO Tony Stubblebine — and that was not a good thing. "Most of it was slop," he says. "Our job got a little bit harder on the filtering side. Actually, a lot harder on the filtering side." Luckily, Medium had already built human-run systems to combat spam, and began deploying them to filter out AI slop. Under Tony, the company has worked to focus on high-quality writing for humans, by humans. Today on Revolution.Social, he and Rabble talk about the enduring human need for storytelling, the role of incentives in shaping online communities, and empowering busy experts to start writing. Tony also explains why podcasting resisted monopolization while other Web 2.0 formats were captured, and why the post-Elon fragmentation of Twitter into smaller platforms is actually good for users. Follow Rabble: ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠ This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠⁠LightningPod.fm⁠⁠, and executive produced by Alice Chan from ⁠⁠Flock Marketing⁠⁠. To learn more about Rabble’s social media bill of rights, and sign up for our newsletter, visit ⁠⁠https://revolution.social/
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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • "Invisible Rulers" author Renee DiResta on Propaganda, Disinformation, & Online Abuse

    "Invisible Rulers" author Renee DiResta on Propaganda, Disinformation, & Online Abuse
    Aug 14 2025
    Renee DiResta has spent a decade tracking how small groups can hijack global conversations — and why the same tactics still work today. The author of "Invisible Rulers" and a leading academic researcher on online influence, she joins Rabble on Revolution.Social to unpack the hidden forces shaping what we see — and believe — on social media. Drawing on years of work investigating the history of propaganda, election interference, and networked movements, Renee shares how fringe ideas can be made to look like majority opinion on social media platforms. She traces the evolution of propaganda from the printing press to the algorithmic age, and explores why content moderation, whether on massive platforms or decentralized networks, is so complex. Renee describes her experiences being doxxed, harassed, and intimidated online when she joined the vaccine debate, and they discuss what it might take to build healthier, more resilient online spaces. Follow Rabble: ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠ This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from ⁠LightningPod.fm⁠, and executive produced by Alice Chan from ⁠Flock Marketing⁠. To learn more about Rabble’s social media bill of rights, and sign up for our newsletter, visit ⁠https://revolution.social/
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    1 hr and 17 mins
  • Substack CEO Chris Best on Democratizing Media, Content Moderation & Freedom of Speech

    Substack CEO Chris Best on Democratizing Media, Content Moderation & Freedom of Speech
    Aug 7 2025
    "If you're a consistent advocate for freedom of the press, you will unfortunately have occasion to quarrel with every party and every side of the political spectrum," says Substack CEO Chris Best. As one of the most important platforms for independent writing online, and one of the only ones not reliant on advertising, Substack has sometimes attracted controversy for its content moderation policies. Today on Revolution.Social, Chris and Rabble talk about the "Nazi bar" problem, the democratization of writing, and the future of free speech. They also discuss the competing business models of the creator economy, why platforms like Elon Musk's X suppress external links, and the purpose of media in the age of AI. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 03:37 The Origin Story of Substack 10:32 Internet Protocols & Spam Filters 13:18 Building a Platform With the Right Incentives 22:47 The Subscription Model vs. Micropayments 26:43 Expanding Beyond Newsletters 32:57 Freedom to Exit 35:33 The Future of Media and AI 40:19 Algorithmic Transparency 42:03 Free Speech and Democratization 46:19 Disinformation & Takedowns 49:39 Who Else Should Be on the Podcast? 52:10 The "Nazi Bar" 54:51 Outro Follow Rabble: ⁠YouTube⁠ ⁠Bluesky⁠ This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm, and executive produced by Alice Chan from Flock Marketing. To learn more about Rabble’s social media bill of rights, and sign up for our newsletter, visit https://revolution.social/
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    56 mins
  • Why We Need a New Social Media Bill of Rights

    Why We Need a New Social Media Bill of Rights
    Aug 2 2025
    Thanks for listening to Revolution.Social! in this bonus episode, recorded live at Web Summit Vancouver in May 2025, Rabble speaks with Penny Daflos, reporter for CTV News Vancouver. They discuss Rabble's work as part of the founding team at Twitter, why we need to reframe and create social media 'rights' for both developers and users, and how to create better places to connect online. Follow Rabble: ⁠YouTube⁠ ⁠Bluesky⁠ This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm, and executive produced by Alice Chan from Flock Marketing. To learn more about Rabble’s social media bill of rights, and sign up for our newsletter, visit https://revolution.social/
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    21 mins
  • Yoel Roth on Banning Trump, Battling Bots & the Difficult Job of Trust & Safety

    Yoel Roth on Banning Trump, Battling Bots & the Difficult Job of Trust & Safety
    Jul 31 2025
    "Content moderation decisions are like assholes," says Yoel Roth, the former head of trust & safety for Twitter. "Everybody's got one." The underrated challenge of working in trust and safety is that every decision could affect millions of users, and the reasons for those decisions are often opaque. Today on Revolution.Social, Yoel and Rabble talk about what goes on behind the scenes when a platform like Twitter wants to do something like ban President Donald Trump; how moderation best practices can work on decentralized protocols; and the fallout of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. " The most striking thing to me from a lot of that work was how a lot of the Russian accounts that we identified on Twitter weren't posting lies." Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 03:42 Yoel's Origin Story 06:25 How Content Moderation Starts 08:56 Banning Trump 11:22 The Future of Social Media Protocols 16:12 Trust and Safety on Decentralized Platforms 21:12 Inauthentic Activity and Bots 28:22 The Arms Race Against LLMs 29:47 Community Self-Governance 38:28 No, You Need Moderation 42:09 The Homogeneity of Tech Founders 46:20 Should Twitter Promote Democracy? 48:59 Why Spam Really, Really Matters 51:31 Who Else Should Be on the Podcast? Follow Rabble: YouTube Bluesky This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm, and executive produced by Alice Chan from Flock Marketing. To learn more about Rabble’s social media bill of rights, and sign up for our newsletter, visit https://revolution.social/
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    57 mins
  • Kara Swisher on Tech Founders' Flaws & Why Social Apps Are the New Cigarettes

    Kara Swisher on Tech Founders' Flaws & Why Social Apps Are the New Cigarettes
    Jul 24 2025
    The founders of social media companies like Facebook and Twitter never cared about the lofty ideals they claimed, says longtime tech journalist and podcaster Kara Swisher. "I never thought they were idealistic. I thought they were there to make money," she says. Swisher, who co-hosts Pivot and also hosts On With Kara Swisher, likens tech giants to the Borg from Star Trek, constantly absorbing smaller companies to fuel their growth. But she sees potential for better user experiences and moderation tools in some platforms, such as Bluesky and Reddit. Today on Revolution.Social, she and Rabble also discuss how letting users moderate their own communities can create healthier online spaces; why cell phones should be banned in school; and the silver lining of Elon Musk's Twitter takeover. This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm, and executive produced by Alice Chan from Flock Marketing. To learn more about Rabble’s social media bill of rights, and sign up for our newsletter, visit https://revolution.social/
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    49 mins
  • Jack Dorsey on Selling Twitter, Leaving Bluesky & What He's Building Next

    Jack Dorsey on Selling Twitter, Leaving Bluesky & What He's Building Next
    Jul 17 2025
    Twitter never should have been a traditional tech company, says Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey. Instead, it should have been designed as a protocol — like email, or podcasting. “That was the pure expression of it from day one,” Dorsey says. “And it was never really allowed to be that because it was on this fast track to becoming a public company.” Today on Revolution.Social, Dorsey explains why it’s still possible to build a successful business on top of open protocols and decentralized social platforms like Nostr. He and Rabble also discuss why Jack doesn’t regret encouraging Elon Musk to buy Twitter; why he left Bluesky; the problem with centralized AI firms; and the evolution of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. This episode was produced and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm, and executive produced by Alice Chan from Flock Marketing. Special thanks to Sebastién Moret. To learn more about Rabble’s social media bill of rights, and sign up for our newsletter, visit https://revolution.social/
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    50 mins