The past two weekends after I got back to DC from Wisconsin were rough. I had no energy to do anything. I was sleeping a lot and just all around being a sloth. I felt so guilty for not being more productive. Not this weekend though. After getting back from Brazil Friday morning my energy levels are through the roof. I’m crossing things off my to-do list at a rapid pace. I’m catching up on a bunch of work things that have been on my list for a few months. I’m trying recipes where I use every dish in my kitchen - sometimes twice. My closets are getting organized. I love weekends like this.
I’m trying to get better at just accepting that sometimes I’ll have those slow weekends and other times weekends like this. It’s tough for someone with my personality, but I’m getting better.
As I was running around I was struggling to narrow down what I wanted to focus on for this week’s newsletter. I’ve gotten some great feedback from folks about last week’s newsletter about how I mapped out my post-Facebook journey. I’ve had others ask me for reading recommendations if they want to know more about tech policy. I’m also reading, listening, and watching a bunch of great stuff right now that I wanted to share. So, I thought this week I’d do a quick rundown of the things I’m enjoying right now.
This is not to say that there wasn’t a ton of tech news this week - there was. I’ve got a ton of links below on all of that. The next two weeks will continue to be packed with news as everyone tries to wrap things up before going on August break (Congress is out starting August 8). There are some threads that I’m thinking about with all of this that I’m not yet ready to put into this newsletter but hope to soon.
Ok, onto the rundown.
Work/Career
Personal Development Plans - When I was at Facebook one of my managers introduced me to these personal development plan templates. She asked each of us to pick the one that resonated the most with us and fill it out. It allowed us to take a step back and think about what we wanted for our careers but also for her to know as well. It allowed her to look out for opportunities for us. I started doing this with my team as well and found it really helpful.
Finding your values and purpose - Somewhere in 2018/2019 I was going through some career coaching with Anne Loehr and she took me through a process to define my purpose and values. This is where I got settled on trailblazer as my “word” and I even picked an image to go with it - a clipart image of a kayaker. Anne has a blog post here about how to think about doing this for yourself if you are interested.
Culture Map - If you work with people from all over the world this book is a must-read. I wish I had it when I first started my international work at Facebook. It helps you to understand how different cultures work and interact with one another in the workplace. If you don’t have time to read the full book, the author - Erin Meyer - also did an interview on Armchair Expert that I enjoyed.
Writing Tips - A few weeks ago my former Facebook colleague Aaron Berman wrote a viral Twitter thread with writing tips that he had learned from writing the Presidential Daily Brief. Recently he turned that into a Medium post that is a helpful read for all of us who could write more clearly and concisely.
Tech Policy
There are so many aspects to tech policy that it can feel overwhelming. Here are some of the people and publications I regularly turn to in order to stay on top of everything.
Tech Policy Press - Justin Hendrix and the team do a wonderful job at covering this area and giving a platform to a variety of voices. Their Sunday Show podcast is a regular on my podcast rotation.
Lawfare Arbiters of Truth - Another on my regular podcast rotation is the series by Evelyn Douek and Quinta Jurecic where they “interview experts about the legal and policy aspects of the debates around political discourse, online speech, and social media platforms playing out in the headlines.”
Tech Dirt - I really like Mike Masnick’s no-nonsense approach to issues around tech. He cuts through the bullshit and looks at things from a different perspective than those who always think the sky is falling.
Digital Bridge - Mark Scott’s weekly newsletter keeps me the most up-to-date of what is happening in Europe around tech.
Platformer - Casey Newton’s daily newsletter covers the ins and outs of what is happening with the platforms.
Stratechery - Ben Thompson has long been a must-read amongst people in Silicon Valley and increasingly in Washington. I’m also lucky to call him a friend.
Big Technology - Alex Kantrowitz covers the intersection between big tech and society.
Rest of World - It can be really hard to find tech news outside of the US and Europe this is why I really appreciate what Rest of World does to cover these issues in places typically overlooked.
Land of Giants - If you want a good historical primer on the big tech companies look no further than this phenomenal podcast series from Vox and Recode. Their latest is covering Facebook where I'm even learning some new insights.
Kate Klonick, Evelyn Douek, Daphne Keller, Nate Persily, Alex Stamos, Samidh Chakrabarti, Jeff Kosseff, Matt Perault, Daniel Kreiss, Brian Fishman and Brandon Silverman are some of my favorite academics and former colleagues whose stuff I read and tweets I follow.
I feel like I’m missing stuff so I’ll keep the web version of this post updated as I think of more. If I missed you I’m so sorry and it wasn’t intentional.
Television
Now for some fun stuff! TV that is exciting me right now includes:
Virgin River, Season 4 - I did not see some of the twists in the last 10 minutes of the season finale coming.
Only Murders in the Building, Season 2 - Just continues to be an all-around delight.
The Bear - Everyone was raving about this so I started watching a few episodes last night. I’m not at the level yet of “Oh my god you have to watch this” but it has promise. Going to keep with it.
Making the Cut - Season 3 coming out on August 19!
Hacks - This recommendation is a little older as season 2 came out on May 12, but definitely worth the watch if you haven’t.
Newsroom - I’m rewatching this series from 2012-2014 and while I’m enjoying it, it’s also really weird to be watching them cover the 2010 election through a 2022 lens.
Have a great week everyone and thank you so much to all of my new subscribers. Please send any feedback or thoughts you have my way.
What I’m Reading
The Verge: Russia fines Google $365 million over YouTube videos containing ‘prohibited’ content
Guardian: TikTok is fastest growing news source for UK adults, Ofcom finds
Vogue: The BeReal App Aims to Bring Authenticity to Social Media—I Test-Drove It
Times of India: India under constant attack through 'misinformation & disinformation': PM Modi
Newsy: Experts: Social Platforms Are Unprepared For Election Misinformation
The Information: When TikTok Will Beat Facebook in Influencer Marketing (Chart); LinkedIn’s New Tech Creator Program
OODA Loop: Is There Too Much Focus on Disinformation?
Liberties: European Commission Raises Concerns About Ireland’s Planned Electoral Reform Bill
WSJ: Facebook Shifts Resources From News to Focus on Creator Economy
The Diplomat: Internet Freedom in Indonesia is Teetering on a Razor’s Edge
CNN: Power in chaos: Steve Bannon is disrupting democracy. This is how.
Everything In Moderation: Jen Weedon on anticipating platform threats and how to manage burnout
New York Times: Bolsonaro Gathers Foreign Diplomats to Cast Doubt on Brazil’s Elections
Think Tanks/Academia/Government
Jonathan Stray: Building Human Values into Recommender Systems: An Interdisciplinary Synthesis
Institute for Strategic Dialogue: RT Articles are Finding their Way to European Audiences – but how?
Ofcom (UK Regulator): Behavioural insights for online safety: understanding the impact of video sharing platform (VSP) design on user behaviour
Open.ai: DALL·E Now Available in Beta
Article 19/IRI Panel: Countering disinformation on electoral processes in Brazil: mapping strategies to defend democracy
Orestis Papakyriakopoulos: How Algorithms Shape the Distribution of Political Advertising: Case Studies of Facebook, Google, and TikTok
Yannis Theocharis, Shelley Boulianne, Karolina Koc-Michalska & Bruce Bimber (2022): Platform affordances and political participation: how social media reshape political engagement, West European Politics
Companies
Meta: How Meta is Preparing for Kenya's 2022 General Election
Meta Oversight Board: Securing ongoing funding for the Oversight Board
Meta: How Meta and the security industry collaborate to secure the internet
Twitter (Brazil): #ElectionProject: join the conversations about the Elections on Twitter
Job Openings
Democracy Works: Openings for software engineer and director of HR
Atlantic Council DFR Lab: Variety of positions open. More info at link.
Meta Oversight Board: Variety of positions open. More info at link.
International Republican Institute (IRI): Director for Technology and Democracy
National Democratic Institute (NDI): Variety of positions open. More info at link.
Protect Democracy: Technology Policy Advocate
Calendar
Topics to keep an eye on that have a general timeframe of the first half of the year:
Facebook 2020 election research
Oversight Board opinion on cross-check
Senate & House hearings, markups, and potential votes
August: Angola elections
August 2 - Arizona and Missouri Primaries (AZ Kelly defending Senate seat, MO open Senate race)
August 9 - Wisconsin Primary (Ron Johnson defending Senate seat)
August 9 - Kenya elections
September 11 - Sweden elections
September 13 - New Hampshire Primary (Hassan defending Senate seat)
September 13 - 27: UN General Assembly
Sept 20 - High level general debate begins
September 28 - 30: Athens Democracy Forum
October: Twitter/Musk Trial (Dates not set yet)
October 2 and 30 - Brazil
November 8 - United States Midterms
Events to keep an eye on but nothing scheduled:
Code 2022 - Vox/Recode Silicon Valley Conference