Jacob Kramer-Duffield
@jaykaydee.bsky.social
Consulting on audience strategy, audiostrategy.org
Writing a book for @beltpublishing.bsky.social
Teaching digital sociability and ethics, NYU-Tandon
ACT-UAW Local 7902
Ph.D., UNC-SILS
Fmr audience data WNYC, NYMag, Megaphone
jkd.10 on Signal
Enjoys birds
Writing a book for @beltpublishing.bsky.social
Teaching digital sociability and ethics, NYU-Tandon
ACT-UAW Local 7902
Ph.D., UNC-SILS
Fmr audience data WNYC, NYMag, Megaphone
jkd.10 on Signal
Enjoys birds
Pinned
Since I am apparently on a starter pack or something: hello! I'm JKD. I have been bopping around the Internet for a long time, used to work in politics, got my Ph.D. studying digital identity, worked in-house in media on analytics and audience, and now consult on that and teach about Online. (1/n)
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
Yes. The suppurating rot currently infecting the United States is not, unfortunately, limited to us: there is a global network of fascists in many countries. Do not make our mistake of telling yourself "it can't happen here." It can. It may already be.
I actually think it's kind of important that all those opposed to the nationalist repressions on the march around the world today figure out ways to be in solidarity across borders rather than participating in the same kinds of nationalist essentialism motivating our enemies.
January 21, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Yes. The suppurating rot currently infecting the United States is not, unfortunately, limited to us: there is a global network of fascists in many countries. Do not make our mistake of telling yourself "it can't happen here." It can. It may already be.
It's really just that it's big on the map and Trump wants it (and doesn't understand the Mercator projection).
There is no “clash” over Greenland, it’s just insanity. There has been no reason given! It’s just that it looks big on the map.
The U.S. military already has a base on Greenland! It’s been there since 1953! It’s called Pituffik Space Base and used to be called Thule Air Force Base. It’s the U.S.’ northernmost military base. www.petersonschriever.spaceforce.mil/pituffik-sb-...
January 21, 2026 at 2:49 PM
It's really just that it's big on the map and Trump wants it (and doesn't understand the Mercator projection).
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
HE IS THREATENING TO USE FORCE. DON'T SAY HE IS NOT THREATENING TO USE FORCE.
"You can say ‘yes' and we will be very appreciative. You can say ‘no' and we will remember,” adds President Trump to world leaders at Davos regarding his demand to get Greenland.
January 21, 2026 at 2:22 PM
HE IS THREATENING TO USE FORCE. DON'T SAY HE IS NOT THREATENING TO USE FORCE.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
Yes, this is my overwhelming impression listening to it. He repeatedly demanded full ownership of Greenland, and made an explicit threat to punish the Europeans if they don't give in. He then threatened to punish Canada over its prime minister's speech!
If you're only reading headlines and see "Trump Says He Won't Use Force" it will give you a misimpression of both how bellicose this speech is and how dug in he is on Greenland.
January 21, 2026 at 2:38 PM
Yes, this is my overwhelming impression listening to it. He repeatedly demanded full ownership of Greenland, and made an explicit threat to punish the Europeans if they don't give in. He then threatened to punish Canada over its prime minister's speech!
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
You cant buy a house because our president is really mad he didn’t get a Nobel peace prize and so he is threatening Greenland.
January 21, 2026 at 12:59 PM
You cant buy a house because our president is really mad he didn’t get a Nobel peace prize and so he is threatening Greenland.
Roberto Catmente wishes you a peaceful evening.
January 21, 2026 at 4:21 AM
Roberto Catmente wishes you a peaceful evening.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
Anyway, if you're a media company do the right thing for your business and your site: advertise yourself and also use GAM and vendor tooling to block any ad that links to NYT URLs from showing up on your website ffs. Don't make it easy for them.
January 21, 2026 at 3:15 AM
Anyway, if you're a media company do the right thing for your business and your site: advertise yourself and also use GAM and vendor tooling to block any ad that links to NYT URLs from showing up on your website ffs. Don't make it easy for them.
This is a good thread that emphasizes a fairly undercovered element of the Times' being a platform company: continual advertising burn (this is also how TikTok got built).
Newspapers over their many decades of dominance were very VERY bad at this!
Newspapers over their many decades of dominance were very VERY bad at this!
The New York Times does a lot of things very effectively, but the most underestimated and underreported part is just how much they invest in online advertising. They spend an immense amount of money continuously advertising, often against other publications, or actively on those publications pages.
January 21, 2026 at 3:19 AM
This is a good thread that emphasizes a fairly undercovered element of the Times' being a platform company: continual advertising burn (this is also how TikTok got built).
Newspapers over their many decades of dominance were very VERY bad at this!
Newspapers over their many decades of dominance were very VERY bad at this!
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
One of the big media failures of the past decade is the ongoing search for the deeper side of Trump. There isn't one. His ideology, such as it is, is personalist, transactional, and zero-sum. That's as vain, vulgar, and wrong as you can get. He likes gold shit and applause. There's nothing beneath.
January 21, 2026 at 12:50 AM
One of the big media failures of the past decade is the ongoing search for the deeper side of Trump. There isn't one. His ideology, such as it is, is personalist, transactional, and zero-sum. That's as vain, vulgar, and wrong as you can get. He likes gold shit and applause. There's nothing beneath.
I've been convinced for a while that the thing that's really going to make federated social media break through both in usage and *conceptually* is a universal reader app - very excited to see progress here.
Oops, I started a new project: Skyreader, an RSS reader on the AT Protocol. Share cool articles like it's 2010 and Google Reader would never die. skyreader.app
www.disnetdev.com/blog/2026-01...
www.disnetdev.com/blog/2026-01...
Skyreader: A RSS Reader on the AT Protocol
Introducing a RSS reader for the AT Protocol where you feeds and article sharing are portable
www.disnetdev.com
January 20, 2026 at 11:47 PM
I've been convinced for a while that the thing that's really going to make federated social media break through both in usage and *conceptually* is a universal reader app - very excited to see progress here.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
I get why a distinction between "America" and "the Trump regime" may seem immaterial to many Europeans. But Trump's domestic political weakness is something Europe can exploit, which in turn strengthens the hand of opposition within the US. Plus, the distinction is *extremely* relevant stateside.
January 20, 2026 at 10:15 PM
I get why a distinction between "America" and "the Trump regime" may seem immaterial to many Europeans. But Trump's domestic political weakness is something Europe can exploit, which in turn strengthens the hand of opposition within the US. Plus, the distinction is *extremely* relevant stateside.
There are of course nearly infinite grounds for criticism of our tech overlords but the thing I find perhaps most vulgar about them as a class is their disinterest in being patrons of the arts. Shallow, insipid people.
New York’s Metropolitan Opera announces layoff and production cuts and is looking into selling its Marc Chagall murals.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/a...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/a...
Despite Drastic Financial Steps, Met Opera Turns to Layoffs and Cuts
www.nytimes.com
January 20, 2026 at 8:26 PM
There are of course nearly infinite grounds for criticism of our tech overlords but the thing I find perhaps most vulgar about them as a class is their disinterest in being patrons of the arts. Shallow, insipid people.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
Honestly wondering, in light of across-the-board antipathy toward the Greenland nonsense, whether we might enter an Articles of Confederation moment — in which events impossible under a good-faith reading of the Constitution make plain that our governing arrangements are no longer fit for purpose.
It is not normal for a president to be pushing for a net -80 policy. That Trump apparently does not care about the public opinion on Greenland (or maybe he doesn't know about the polls) is a sign of how far we have drifted from normal democratic government
Quinnipiac Poll, Jan 8-12 - poll.qu.edu/poll-release...
January 20, 2026 at 7:14 PM
Honestly wondering, in light of across-the-board antipathy toward the Greenland nonsense, whether we might enter an Articles of Confederation moment — in which events impossible under a good-faith reading of the Constitution make plain that our governing arrangements are no longer fit for purpose.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
it really is just this stupid
January 20, 2026 at 4:43 PM
it really is just this stupid
Read all of the thread above this but this is an issue I've spent a lot of time thinking about, as well. In point of fact even many "local" media - and this includes nonprofit and public media - have decision-making structures (boards esp.) with national and non-local perspectives and imperatives.
The argument is about local 'ownership' but also about local 'control' and that pendulum has followed Big Tech way too far away from local in both senses.
January 20, 2026 at 5:40 PM
Read all of the thread above this but this is an issue I've spent a lot of time thinking about, as well. In point of fact even many "local" media - and this includes nonprofit and public media - have decision-making structures (boards esp.) with national and non-local perspectives and imperatives.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
I just woke up from a nap and somehow while I was asleep, everyone on the bus has figured out we are not going to the right place
January 20, 2026 at 1:57 AM
I just woke up from a nap and somehow while I was asleep, everyone on the bus has figured out we are not going to the right place
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
I was invited to do some live Decoders at Davos but didn’t go because new baby. But the only tech question worth asking in that forum right now is what American big tech companies are planning to do when the European markets slam shut as NATO collapses
January 19, 2026 at 11:28 PM
I was invited to do some live Decoders at Davos but didn’t go because new baby. But the only tech question worth asking in that forum right now is what American big tech companies are planning to do when the European markets slam shut as NATO collapses
What's a smilin' face when the whole state's racist?
January 19, 2026 at 5:12 PM
What's a smilin' face when the whole state's racist?
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
Trump trying to start a weird stupid war no one wants out of spite because he's mad about not getting a Nobel Peace Prize is dead center "gag you would leave in drafts because it is both too obvious and not funny." Obviously this is all bad but it is also just incredibly hack. What a way to go.
January 19, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Trump trying to start a weird stupid war no one wants out of spite because he's mad about not getting a Nobel Peace Prize is dead center "gag you would leave in drafts because it is both too obvious and not funny." Obviously this is all bad but it is also just incredibly hack. What a way to go.
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
donald trump experienced a level of what was, for him, humiliation equivalent to death when obama lightly mocked him back in 2011 and we all are going to pay for it
January 19, 2026 at 3:38 PM
donald trump experienced a level of what was, for him, humiliation equivalent to death when obama lightly mocked him back in 2011 and we all are going to pay for it
Reposted by Jacob Kramer-Duffield
fwiw i think his obsession with the nobel prize is entirely about obama getting it (setting aside whether or not obama ought to have received it)
"Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize."
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com
January 19, 2026 at 3:31 PM
fwiw i think his obsession with the nobel prize is entirely about obama getting it (setting aside whether or not obama ought to have received it)