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leahreich.com
Leah Reich
@leahreich.com
4.2K followers 270 following 3.3K posts
I write about humans, tech, and culture, and about what I learned working for Slack, Spotify, and Instagram. But you’re probably here for photos of my cat Lumpy. You should go read my newsletter at www.leahreich.com
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 8d
My newsletter today is about algorithms, culture, and celebrity beef. It's about how we're all complicit in this current festering cultural moment of ours.

It features one of my spiciest theories ever that I do not want to spoil. So please click and read.

www.leahreich.com/algorithmic-...
Algorithmic Beef
Depending on the various internets you inhabit, you may not yet be aware that another virulent Twitter (please don't make me call it X) fight erupted last night between rap superstars Nicki Minaj and ...
www.leahreich.com
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 42m
You can’t make this shit up! Self-awareness is a gift
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 49m
I love the smell of hubris in the morning
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 51m
It is! Unfortunately, it looks like this one won’t be joining us.
leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 1h
This morning I woke up & chose violence in my replies, but yesterday I got a comment on my latest newsletter that reminded me to keep fighting the good fight by writing to make things better online (and off). ❤️ Read the newsletter here:

www.leahreich.com/this-medium-...
a screenshot that reads: I think what makes it my favorite is the vulnerability you showed, and how relatable it is for me. You are someone I have respected for years, largely because of your very logical and thoughtful perspectives on complex issues that I often struggle to verbalize my opinions on. "That's What the Humans Are For" was particularly helpful for me recently, giving me ideas for how to talk to others about AI in general and in research specifically. Reading this week's essay was reassuring in two ways: seeing that you struggle with the same feelings of confusion and frustration that I do (not to mention the chronic pain that I also experience), and that you're still able to produce really insightful work week after week despite all that. Kind of makes the internet feel a little less lonely and garbagey and hopeless.
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 1h
@elisabethepps.bsky.social Just want you to know that this morning when I responded to this person, I thought of you and your wisdom about showing people who they are before you block them ❤️
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Reposted by Leah Reich
erinbiba.bsky.social
Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 11h
LMAOOOOO

A bunch of comedians tried to make up for their participation in the Riyadh comedy festival by donating their pay to Human Rights Watch and Human rights Watch was like “nah bitch we don’t want your dirty blood money” 😂😂 I’m dying
Human Rights Watch Doesn’t Want Any Riyadh Comedy Festival Money
Taking money from those who took money from Saudi Arabia would impact perception of the org’s independence.
www.vulture.com
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 2h
Having a fun conversation in the replies here, why not come and join us
leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 23h
Great news everyone, I finally found the post that will get people to leave Substack. Man this is grim

www.linkedin.com/posts/dbusta...
A screenshot from a linked post on LinkedIn by Daniel Bustamante, who says he has million-dollar email marketing prompts, that reads: Growing on LinkedIn is harder than ever. But there’s a new platform I’m VERY bullish on: Substack. Now, before I explain why I’m so excited about Substack, let me share a quick story: A few years ago, Twitter bought an email company called Revue. For a short time, they had this feature where you could add an email capture form directly on your Twitter profile. It was incredibly powerful. You could capture email subscribers directly from Twitter without having to link out to a landing page or deal with any friction. Then they killed it. Now Substack is basically bringing that back - but much better. Here’s why: With Revue, you could only capture emails from your profile. With Substack, you can capture emails throughout the entire feed.
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Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 2h
@hairboat.bsky.social I love a good "hope this helps"
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Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 2h
Who is stuck on Substack? Why are they stuck? Genuine questions
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 2h
I've worked in tech for too long to know what feels obvious or intuitive to some of us might still not be known to many, many others. So I try to be generous and gracious wherever I can, and to build understanding. But no need to respond like that to a post I made that she happened to stumble upon!
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 3h
Thank you! Lumpy is the best thing about being online and offline, even if he is mad I won't give him a second breakfast.

I did find it aggravating! That's why I write the way I do, about the topics I do (mostly on my own newsletter now). I want us to find a way back to our shared humanity.
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 3h
As an adult and Episcopal priest, why is your first approach to come at a stranger and insult them? Why not ask a genuine, open question? How lazy are you that you assume I am not an expert in technology, or don’t know experts in marketing?
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 3h
You post about what people should do to fight back against some of these forces. I write about this differently, by encouraging people to build alternatives to the awful big tech that cares only for profit and growth, and to build smaller, more humane communities that support all of us.
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 3h
Yes, I would. Because Substack platforms and pushes Nazis, supports only the kind of “free speech” and censorship that suits them, and is a social network that is funded and built by the same money and ethos that built all the other destructive social networks many of us dislike.
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 14h
Who are you, and why do you think it’s ok to tell a stranger she’s gullible and lazy? Would you walk up to someone on the street and say that?
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 23h
Great news everyone, I finally found the post that will get people to leave Substack. Man this is grim

www.linkedin.com/posts/dbusta...
A screenshot from a linked post on LinkedIn by Daniel Bustamante, who says he has million-dollar email marketing prompts, that reads: Growing on LinkedIn is harder than ever. But there’s a new platform I’m VERY bullish on: Substack. Now, before I explain why I’m so excited about Substack, let me share a quick story: A few years ago, Twitter bought an email company called Revue. For a short time, they had this feature where you could add an email capture form directly on your Twitter profile. It was incredibly powerful. You could capture email subscribers directly from Twitter without having to link out to a landing page or deal with any friction. Then they killed it. Now Substack is basically bringing that back - but much better. Here’s why: With Revue, you could only capture emails from your profile. With Substack, you can capture emails throughout the entire feed.
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Reposted by Leah Reich
leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 1d
My newsletter this week is short. It's about content, context, and chronic pain (kind of).

www.leahreich.com/this-medium-...
a screenshot that reads: We live in the era of content. Content! What the fuck is content? And what is all this content without its context? What are any of us without context? Without context, we can become divorced from the fullness of meaning. Sometimes we are even divorced from any meaning at all. I know that context isn't fixed, that the context in which I create something is not the context in which you will have your own experience of it. We all know that so much of what matters is unwritten, beyond view, out of frame, not gridworthy. But god, some days I feel as if I were drowning in an ocean and my only refuge a floating garbage island. Where am I even going with this? The drowning is how my context sometimes makes me feel, because of all the work that goes into dealing with it, because I deal with it alone, and because even if I didn't, no one else can see it. The floating garbage island is the assortment of shitty, half-baked content generating platforms—far less social, much more media—that make isolation feel so much lonelier. If you thought you and your problems were invisible before you unlocked your phone, boy howdy does that not compare with how you feel when you realize you're not even good at getting attention by shouting into the void.
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 1d
Story 2: I was at IG (laid off in 2023). After the first massive round of layoffs in 2022 they held a virtual town hall. Another SWE asked in the chat (aka publicly) if Meta pulling back from supporting employee clubs meant her boba club would no longer be funded. The day after 11,000 ppl lost jobs
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Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 1d
You have never, EVER in your life seen such online engagement & activism as the response from the software engineers in the comments. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO WALK TO ANOTHER BUILDING 15 MIN AWAY TO PLAY FOOSBALL??" "This is how I de-stress, how DARE you" it was glorious, I wish I had screenshots
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 1d
anyway, story 1: When I was working in Stockholm at Spotify, they opened a second office in the city, renovated, moved teams around. They posted on FB Workplace what amenities each bldg would have. Among these: a foosball table, a supported LAN gaming room (the other would be deprecated)
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 1d
oh lol sorry I am dumb, I don't know anything about Cowboy Bebop so this was a real Who's on First of me wasn't it
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 1d
Oh I mean what was it a drawing of!

And yes, that is really truly obnoxious. In return, I can tell you two of my favorite galling stories from my time working in tech. They aren't as good but combined they're almost as bad
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 1d
That is the fun kind of insider nonsense I LOVE. Thank you for this. What was the original pencil drawing??
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 1d
My newsletter this week is short. It's about content, context, and chronic pain (kind of).

www.leahreich.com/this-medium-...
a screenshot that reads: We live in the era of content. Content! What the fuck is content? And what is all this content without its context? What are any of us without context? Without context, we can become divorced from the fullness of meaning. Sometimes we are even divorced from any meaning at all. I know that context isn't fixed, that the context in which I create something is not the context in which you will have your own experience of it. We all know that so much of what matters is unwritten, beyond view, out of frame, not gridworthy. But god, some days I feel as if I were drowning in an ocean and my only refuge a floating garbage island. Where am I even going with this? The drowning is how my context sometimes makes me feel, because of all the work that goes into dealing with it, because I deal with it alone, and because even if I didn't, no one else can see it. The floating garbage island is the assortment of shitty, half-baked content generating platforms—far less social, much more media—that make isolation feel so much lonelier. If you thought you and your problems were invisible before you unlocked your phone, boy howdy does that not compare with how you feel when you realize you're not even good at getting attention by shouting into the void.
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leahreich.com
Leah Reich @leahreich.com · 1d
I am a major George Michael head but lack the full knowledge and now must know pls
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