An Alternate History of Social Media (with Ben Werdmuller)

Ben Werdmuller is the Senior Director of Technology at ProPublica and a seasoned technologist who has spent his career building platforms that prioritize social impact and integrity. In 2004, he co-founded the open-source social networking software Elgg, which for more than 20 years has served as an alternative to Facebook for governments, schools, and political movements around the world.

"They are very similar," Ben says of Elgg and Facebook. "PHP-based social network[s], both heavily inspired by LiveJournal...

They took different paths and now Mark has a private Hawaiian island, and I don't. And also, Mark has undermined democracies and been culpable in a genocide."

Today on Revolution.Social, Ben and Rabble talk about his career transitions from technologist to venture capitalist to his current technical leadership at ProPublica. They also discuss how the sensitivities with which journalists approach new technologies like AI; the ebbs and flows of the Indie Web movement; and how builders in tech, including vibe-coders, can choose to lean into ethics, community, and social good.