Dot Social

Mike McCue

Learn about the Internet’s next wave on the open social web and what it will unlock for how we connect, communicate, and innovate online. Hosted by Flipboard CEO Mike McCue.

  1. Rediscovering the Magic of the Blogosphere, with John O’Nolan and Matthias Pfefferle

    27 JUN

    Rediscovering the Magic of the Blogosphere, with John O’Nolan and Matthias Pfefferle

    Social networks were built on short posts designed for speed and scale. But what if the next era of the web was built for something deeper? Two of the social web’s “longformers” are working on this. John O’Nolan, the founder and CEO of Ghost, and Matthias Pfefferle, the developer behind the ActivityPub plugin for WordPress, are at the forefront of integrating social features with blogs, newsletters, essays — anything that doesn’t fit in a box of 500 characters or less.  In this episode of Dot Social, the trio talks about rediscovering the magic of the blogosphere; why formatting, identity, and interoperability are tricky problems to solve; and where writing belongs in the next chapter of the internet. Highlights include: Importance to writers and bloggersModels for discovery Core principles around bringing long-form to the social webLessons from Web 2.0, emailRough edges and need for collaborationMentioned or related to this episode: Julian Lam of Node BB“Digital Sovereignty Is the New Influencer Status, with Citation Needed's Molly White”“Steps Forward in Long-form Text”🔎 You can find John at  https://john.onolan.org/ and Matthias at https://pfefferle.dev/ ✚ You can connect with Mike McCue at @mmccue.bsky.social. 🌊 Catch the wave! Surf the social web and create your own custom feeds at surf.social, a new beta from the people at Flipboard. https://about.surf.social/

    56 min
  2. Digital Sovereignty Is the New Influencer Status, with Citation Needed's Molly White

    27 MAY

    Digital Sovereignty Is the New Influencer Status, with Citation Needed's Molly White

    Thanks to the rise of the open social web, it’s more viable than ever for creators to take back ownership and control of the distribution of their work, their connection to their audiences, and their livelihoods overall. Real alternatives to walled-garden platforms aren’t just theoretical ideas — they’re here, and getting stronger every day. No one knows this better than Molly White, the researcher, writer and software engineer behind the Citation Needed newsletter and the project Web3 Is Going Just Great. Molly’s not only an outspoken advocate for an open, ethical web, she’s also cracked the code on being a successful, autonomous creator herself. During this conversation with Flipboard CEO Mike McCue, recorded live at SXSW 2025 on March 9, 2025, White explains her setup, philosophy, and learnings, and takes smart questions from the audience at the end. Highlights include discussions of: Importance of owning your online identityStrategies for digital ownershipMoving content freely without platform constraintsMonetization and sustainable modelsVideo content, e-commerce, surveillance capitalism Mentioned in this episode: GhostCory Doctorow’s talk, “Tensions in Creative Labor & Generative AI”🔎 You can find Molly at mollywhite.net. ✚ You can connect with Mike McCue at @mike@flipboard.social and @mmccue.bsky.social. 🌊 Catch the wave! Surf the social web and create your own custom feeds at surf.social, a new beta from the people at Flipboard: https://about.surf.social/

    1h 3m
  3. Architecting a New Era of Community, with Blacksky’s Rudy Fraser

    20 MAY

    Architecting a New Era of Community, with Blacksky’s Rudy Fraser

    What if your social media experience weren’t controlled by an algorithm or a corporation, but by your community? That’s the idea behind Blacksky, a decentralized project built on the AT Protocol — the same infrastructure powering Bluesky.  Though their names contain the same suffix, it’s important to know that Blacksky is not hitching its wagon to the Bluesky app, team or platform. The community, helmed by founder and CEO Rudy Fraser, is charting an independent and ideally replicable path, the kind that’s only possible in an open-source ecosystem.    In this episode of Dot Social, Fraser takes host Mike McCue under the hood of Blacksky’s infrastructure, philosophy, and future plans.  Highlights include discussions of: Mutual aid and community buildingThe value of portable identityLessons from running Blacksky so farModeration, tools and business modelsBuilding for longevityMentioned in this episode: Rudy’s ATmosphere conference talk, “Beyond Horseless Carriages”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZN8y8kVFFIRudy’s blog post, “An internet of many autonomous communities”: https://blog.rudyfraser.com/an-internet-of-many-autonomous-communities/Blacksky Labeler: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:d2mkddsbmnrgr3domzg5qexfCypher: https://github.com/blacksky-algorithms/rsky/tree/main/cypherRsky-Relay: https://github.com/blacksky-algorithms/rsky/pull/87SAFEskies: https://github.com/blacksky-algorithms/SAFEskiesNew Yorker article mentioning Rudy: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/04/14/blueskys-quest-to-build-nontoxic-social-media🔎 You can find Rudy at @rudyfraser.com. ✚ You can connect with Mike McCue at @mmccue.bsky.social. 🌊 Catch the wave! Surf the social web and create your own custom feeds at surf.social, a new beta from the people at Flipboard. https://about.surf.social/

    59 min
  4. Move Fast and Break Kings, with Cory Doctorow

    24 APR

    Move Fast and Break Kings, with Cory Doctorow

    Blogger, journalist, author and activist Cory Doctorow can embark on a 10-minute monologue about what’s wrong with tech and still leave you hungering for more of his rapid-fire analysis and biting humor. It’s stunning to be presented with the big picture of the mess we’re in — and how to potentially get out of it. In this episode of Dot Social, recorded live at the Fediverse House at SXSW 2025, Doctorow unpacks the concept of “enshittification.” It’s a term he coined to show how we got to this place where platforms prioritize business interests over user experience, leading to tragic declines in quality and trust. He talks about how to challenge platform monopolies and the importance of true federation. Highlights include discussions of: The internet’s evolution and its current stateThe cycle of platform abuseThe role of competition and regulationBenefits of RSS and the social webCory’s new book, “Picks and Shovels”🔎 You can find Cory at @pluralistic@mamot.fr ✚ You can connect with Mike McCue at @mike@flipboard.social 🌊 Catch the wave! Surf the social web and create your own custom feeds at surf.social, a new beta from the people at Flipboard. https://about.surf.social/

    1h 2m
  5. Creating an ATmosphere of Possibility, with Bluesky’s Paul Frazee

    21 APR

    Creating an ATmosphere of Possibility, with Bluesky’s Paul Frazee

    From the outside, Bluesky may seem like a Twitter clone. But anyone who’s close to the technology — and the team — knows that they’re building something much deeper: they’re rethinking the internet’s architecture to create a more flexible, user-centric web. Bluesky’s CTO Paul Frazee is the perfect person to explain all this, as he’s fantastic at tying technical concepts to their practical application and wider impact. In this interview with Mike McCue, recorded live at the Fediverse House at SXSW 2025, Frazee unpacks Bluesky’s first principles, what makes AT Protocol different from ActivityPub, why identity portability is a radical shift, and how decentralization could lead to more humane social spaces. Other highlights include: Bluesky's growth spike and architecture first principlesThe challenges of bridging between federated networksWhat it means to build for composabilityHow stackable moderation worksPaul's take on full federation Why this is a greenfield moment for developers Bridging cultural echo chambersMentioned in this episode: Beaker Browser post-mortem🔎 You can find Paul on Bluesky @pfrazee.com.  ✚ You can connect with Mike McCue all across the social web, including on Bluesky @mmccue.bsky.social. 🌊 Catch the wave! Surf the social web and create your own custom feeds at surf.social, a new beta from the people at Flipboard: https://about.surf.social/

    47 min
  6. Turning Moments Into Movements, with Hashtag Inventor Chris Messina

    24 MAR

    Turning Moments Into Movements, with Hashtag Inventor Chris Messina

    n 2007, the hashtag was a simple, yet revolutionary, idea that changed the way we organize and amplify content. Today, it is either endangered or more useful than ever, depending on whom you talk to. On the open social web, hashtags are an important unifying mechanism — not just for content but for people too.  Why is that? How did we get here? What’s next for this small but mighty feature and for the web at large? Here to tell us is Chris Messina, the inventor of the hashtag, the creator of the DiSo Project, and the No. 1 hunter on Product Hunt. In this episode, Messina goes wide to explain where this next 20-year cycle of the internet is taking us. From the community-pulling power of the hashtag to decentralization and the massive shifts ignited by AI, he threads the needle on it all. Addressing Elon Musk’s disparaging comment about hashtagsThe history of the hashtagUnder-appreciated elements of the hashtagGrappling with identity and reputation in a decentralized worldAlignment between ActivityPub and LLMsMentioned in this episode and/or acronyms for clarity: bitly.com/tagchannels - original hashtag specDID stands for “decentralized identifier” and is a self-owned, verifiable digital identity that operates without a central authorityPGP is an encryption standard used for securing communication, data integrity, and authentication 🔎 Learn more about Chris at his website, ChrisMessina.me, or find him on Bluesky @chrismessina.me, Mastodon @chrismessina@mastodon.xyz, and Threads @chris. ✚ You can connect with Mike McCue all across the social web, including on Bluesky @mmccue.bsky.social, Mastodon @mike@flipboard.social and Threads @mmccue. 🌊 Catch the wave! Surf the social web and create your own custom feeds at surf.social, a new beta from the people at Flipboard. https://about.surf.social/

    1h 2m
  7. Leaving the City of Big Social, with Fediverse Enthusiast Chris Trottier

    4 MAR

    Leaving the City of Big Social, with Fediverse Enthusiast Chris Trottier

    When you’re building an open source community you’re a part of a collective effort with a common goal. In the fediverse, there are early adopters doing a lot of the heavy lifting now. They’re the voices you want to follow to make sense of the place.  One such person is Chris Trottier. Chris describes himself as a “fediverse enthusiast” (he’s also passionate about video games). He’s a sage presence who makes smart observations and has a 10,000-foot view of all the innovation happening on the open social web — not to mention a few ideas of his own.  Highlights of this conversation: Why he’s rallied around ActivityPubThe promise of social and the promise of the fediverseSelf-hosting an instanceInteresting apps and products built on top of ActivityPubAdopting a survivability mindset (as VCs, developers)Services mentioned in this episode include: Friendica - https://friendi.ca/ - a decentralized social network Misskey - https://misskey-hub.net/en/ - a microblogging platform Akkoma - https://akkoma.social/ - “sorta like the child of Twitter and email” Macstodon - https://github.com/smallsco/macstodon - a Mastodon client for Classic Mac OS DOStodon - https://github.com/SuperIlu/DOStodon - a Mastodon client for MS-DOS Amidon - https://github.com/BlitterStudio/amidon - a Mastodon client for Amiga computers Sora - https://mszpro.com/sorasns - a futuristic iOS app for Mastodon, Bluesky, Misskey; uses local machine learning to rank posts and feature contents to you Bluesky Firehose - https://firesky.tv/ - republishes every new post/reply from the Bluesky firehose in real-time Castling Club -  https://castling.club/ - chess game built on top of ActivityPub 🔎 You can find Chris in the fediverse at @atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org ✚ You can connect with Mike McCue on Mastodon at @mike@flipboard.social or via his Flipboard federated account, where you can see what he’s curating on Flipboard in the fediverse, at @mike@flipboard.com 💰 Mastodon is a non-profit that runs on donations from the community. You can help Mastodon succeed by supporting the organization via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mastodon

    47 min
  8. Making Better Networks for Humans, with Erin Kissane and Darius Kazemi

    11/12/2024

    Making Better Networks for Humans, with Erin Kissane and Darius Kazemi

    Unlike traditional social media, the fediverse operates without a central authority. This creates a unique set of challenges and opportunities for how it’s governed.  Luckily, there are thoughtful stewards who want to see decentralized social media succeed in the most human — and humane — fashion. Two of the most prominent are Erin Kissane, a writer and researcher working on new networks, and Darius Kazemi, a senior engineer at the Applied Social Media Lab at Harvard University.  Earlier in 2024, the pair researched and wrote a 40,000-word report on governance in the fediverse. Now they are deep in other projects designed to move the fediverse forward, including Erin’s new studio devoted to network work and Darius’ Fediverse Schema Observatory (software built to enhance the ecosystem’s interoperability while being sensitive to user data). You’ll hear about these projects and more in the latest episode of our Dot Social podcast. Highlights of the conversation include: The impact of the 2024 U.S. Presidential election on this workThoughts on the migration to BlueskyA model for how to socialize software in the fediverseWhat needs to be done next: a prioritized listThe nutritional label analogyFunding and sustainabilityBridging protocols and avoiding fragmentationMentioned in this episode: How to buy shoes in the fediverseFindings report: governance on fediverse microblogging serversApplied Social Media Lab at Harvard UniversityIFTASBlackskyFedifyBonfire Networks🔎 You can find Erin at wreckage/salvage or learn more about her via her personal site. She’s also posting on Mastodon and Bluesky.  🔎 Darius’s home on the Internet is at Tiny Subversions. He works at the Applied Social Media Lab at Harvard University and he posts on Mastodon.   ✚ You can follow Mike at @mike@flipboard.social and @mike@flipboard.com 💡 To learn more about what Flipboard's doing in the fediverse, sign up here: http://about.flipboard.com/a-new-wave

    56 min
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About

Learn about the Internet’s next wave on the open social web and what it will unlock for how we connect, communicate, and innovate online. Hosted by Flipboard CEO Mike McCue.

Information

  • Creator
    Mike McCue
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Dot Social

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