I am thrilled to share that after taking a year off, I’ve joined Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society as Director of their new Applied Social Media Lab. The ASML’s mission is to build social media solutions that center the public interest. I am hiring a team of industry-trained technologists to work with experts from academia and civil society to build new software, protocols, and designs to foster healthier human connections.

No one would deny that today’s social media can be harmful. While fighting abuse at Google, I saw bad actors exploit global platforms to distribute hate, fraud, and lies at scale. Parents worry about keeping their children safe and healthy in a world full of online peer pressure, bullies, and worse. Nobody’s entirely sure how the content of your feeds are chosen, or whether you will be able to get help when things go wrong.

That’s not the whole story, though. I have also seen again and again how social media can build connections and make the world a better place. Personally, I’ve been falling in love with (and on) federated online communities since the days of bulletin board systems, Usenet, and MUDs/MUSHes. I met my wife through online dating back in 2003. Communicating through games and other apps saved my school-age children’s friendships during the pandemic. At its best, social media can spark movements like NJ 11th for Change, which advocates for transparent, responsive, and accountable local government in my congressional district.

The ASML is a chance to reimagine the future of social media by looking beyond the next press cycle, earnings report, or election. Instead of limiting ourselves to solving today’s problems, we want to find new ways for technology to bring people together. I believe that with an inventive spirit, the online social experiences of 100 years from now will make today’s popular apps look as quaint (and dangerous) as a Ford Model T compared to a modern automobile.

I am hiring engineers, designers, and product managers to join me in this quest. Please reach out any time, here or by email to asml@cyber.harvard.edu. I would love to learn from you and work together to invent new and healthier approaches to social media.

I am grateful to Frank McCourt and Project Liberty for the funding that makes the ASML possible; to Professors Jonathan Zittrain, James Mickens, Lawrence Lessing, and Charles Nesson for giving me a chance to be part of the Berkman Klein Center; and to Rebecca Rinkevich, Executive Director of Institutes at BKC, for asking me to take on this challenge.* I look forward to what we will achieve together.

* Also a special shout-out to Rob Leathern for introducing me to Becca and the BKC team. I owe you one, my friend.