Sam Liebeskind

Our model, which we call Form-From , characterizes social media based on (1) the form of the content, either threaded or flat, and (2) from where or from whom one might receive content, ranging from spaces to networks to the commons.

For synthetic media to reach millions of views—as the Swift images did in just hours—they need massive, aggregated networks, which allow them to identify an initial audience and then spread. As the amount of available content grows with the broader use of generative AI, social media’s role as curator will become even more important.

The most important lesson I’ve learned for developing new products: You don’t have to be the first person to come up with a product idea. In fact, that will rarely be the case. But you can almost always make an existing idea better. And that’s when you get the big wins.

Polis ensures that participants focus on the content of comments and the state of the conversation, because there are no direct conversations or interactions with other participants. Discussion on the platform in this sense happens at a distance, like an observer sitting on a park bench or standing on a balcony.