#14 — Casey Newton, founder of Platformer, on launching Platformer, on the future of journalism and diversity in paid newsletters
10/19/20 • 49 min
Li Jin and Nathan Baschez interview Casey Newton, founder and writer of Platformer News.
Casey has been a leading journalistic voices in Silicon Valley for over a decade, most recently writing a daily newsletter for The Verge. Casey covers topics around government intervention in Big Tech, content moderation, and the impacts of social media on society.
As discussed in our news roundup, Casey recently left The Verge to start his own publication called Platformer. We're big fans of his work and it’s clear that other people are as well — in just five days Platformer had amassed over 6,000 subscribers. Casey’s story is a perfect example of the passion economy playing out in real time.
In this interview, we are going to talk to Casey about:
- If he sees more journalists considering moving out of legacy media organizations
- If Substack should offer additional benefits like healthcare and legal support
- How he thinks about publishing daily vs working on longer pieces
- The biggest issues for both traditional media and social media
- What changed most about going independent
- And more!
Related links:
platformer.news
everything.substack.com
meansofcreation.substack.com
Show theme music: Compassion by Stefan Kartenberg
Li Jin and Nathan Baschez interview Casey Newton, founder and writer of Platformer News.
Casey has been a leading journalistic voices in Silicon Valley for over a decade, most recently writing a daily newsletter for The Verge. Casey covers topics around government intervention in Big Tech, content moderation, and the impacts of social media on society.
As discussed in our news roundup, Casey recently left The Verge to start his own publication called Platformer. We're big fans of his work and it’s clear that other people are as well — in just five days Platformer had amassed over 6,000 subscribers. Casey’s story is a perfect example of the passion economy playing out in real time.
In this interview, we are going to talk to Casey about:
- If he sees more journalists considering moving out of legacy media organizations
- If Substack should offer additional benefits like healthcare and legal support
- How he thinks about publishing daily vs working on longer pieces
- The biggest issues for both traditional media and social media
- What changed most about going independent
- And more!
Related links:
platformer.news
everything.substack.com
meansofcreation.substack.com
Show theme music: Compassion by Stefan Kartenberg
Previous Episode
#13 — Dan Teran, founder & former CEO of Managed by Q, on how to use Good Jobs to create great companies
Li Jin and Nathan Baschez interview Dan Teran, founder and former CEO of Managed by Q. Managed by Q is an office management platform founded in 2014 that provides all sorts of services to corporations, including IT support, supply inventory management, cleaning and equipment repair. They were purchased by WeWork for $220 million in April 2019.
What does an office management platform have to do with the passion economy, you may ask? It’s a great question, and the answer gets at one of the subtle but important aspects of the passion economy that most people overlook. The passion economy isn’t just about creators making content on the internet — it’s about a broader shift to de-commodified labor. And that’s exactly what Dan did with Managed by Q.
Dan’s original inspiration for Managed by Q was, in part, the “Good Jobs” framework, which argues that any job — including those typically thought of as low-paying, bad jobs — can be designed for individual autonomy and creativity. The strategy was popularized by Zeynep Ton and the thesis is simple: treat and pay your employees well, and it will end up costing less than if you paid them less. This leads to higher profits, and all stakeholders (managers, employees, investors, customers) will be better off because of it.
In this interview, we are going to talk to Dan about:
- What the Good Jobs strategy is and if it’s viable for companies today
- How Dan used the Good Jobs strategy at Managed by Q and what he learned from it
- Dan’s take on worker Prop 22 and AB-5, following up from his recent piece on the topic
- How he thinks how worker classification will change in the future
- And more!
Related links:
everything.substack.com
meansofcreation.substack.com
Show theme music: Compassion by Stefan Kartenberg
Next Episode
#15 — Taylor Lorenz on the creator economy, online entrepreneurship, the changing media landscape, & more
Li Jin and Nathan Baschez interview Taylor Lorenz, a technology reporter for the New York Times covering internet culture. Her reporting is consumed avidly by venture capitalists, founders, and anyone curious about how the internet is shaping culture and how humans express themselves.
She has written about topics like TikTok cults, a Discord community called the Gen Z Mafia, Triller poaching talent from other platforms, TikTok mansions, and other very online topics. Before joining The New York Times in 2019, she was a technology and culture writer at The Atlantic and The Daily Beast.
Here on Means of Creation, we’ve been following her work for a very long time. She understands more about the creator ecosystem than basically anyone else.
In this conversation, we talk to Taylor about:
- What we can learn from influencers/creators about the future of entrepreneurship in America
- Why creators are finally getting the recognition they deserve among VCs and technologists
- The term “passion economy” and whether it’s an apt phrase to describe the growing contingent of people who are making a living online
- The tensions between tech VCs and journalists
- Citizen journalism and the evolving media landscape
- How privilege plays out in the passion economy
- And more!
Related links:
everything.substack.com
meansofcreation.substack.com
Show theme music: Compassion by Stefan Kartenberg
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