Row 1 of the inauguration: The richest men in America who own all of the communications platforms. Row 2: The cabinet.

I’ve written ab the importance of social media as a tool of power for American politicians for 10yrs. Post 2020 I still got pushback ab whether MSM was actually more important.

Notice who’s sitting in this row, and who isn’t. It only took 4 yrs. Pretty conclusive what *they* think matters more.

Despondent is a way to describe how I feel — but gotta soldier on, for the kids

The last time I was inside Barclays Center was for an eeeepic Benito concert. Now I’m here for… Frozen on Ice 🤦🏽‍♀️. #parenthood

First real dance class since 2020, and it was everything I didn’t know I very direly needed. Everyone needs to check out Ismael Kouyaté’s West African dance class at Mark Morris on Fridays. Pure joy. A balm for the times (which are turning me into a bit of a misanthrope).

I’ve tried to make this point before: we are in a new era politically—the small-l liberalism to which both Democrats and most Republicans used to adhere is NOT the default ideological driver. We’re not going back to a pre-Trump “normal.” The question is what we are going forward into. Worth reading:

It’s been a week, so Severance evening couldn’t be coming at a better time.

If you’re wondering who’s the crazy mom dancing with abandon every afternoon on Atlantic Ave on her way to school pickup, it’s me, and DTmF is to blame.

I’ll never forget watching Mulholland Drive as a lanky, awkward 14 year old first falling in love with film — RIP David Lynch.

Screenshot of a newsletter that reads “In fact, my theory is this leak precipitated the wholesale gutting of user research at Meta, after which many other companies followed suit with their own research teams. Yes, other roles were hit hard by layoffs, especially sales and recruiting, but those made sense given the constricting economy and the hiring freezes. Software engineers were laid off too. But the proportion of researchers who were laid off was much higher because there were way fewer of them to begin with. Then jobs for researchers completely dried up. User researchers are the people whose job it is to talk to users and uncover sometimes uncomfortable insights about the products these companies build, and then to advocate for building things that better meet those users’ needs. At the end of the day, I imagine it’s easier is it to protect your job when you don’t have to take into account so many inconvenient insights about the people who use your products. When you can make decisions based on business goals or “product genius.””

My latest newsletter is hopefully my last one on Substack before I move it. It’s about Meta, tech leadership, and the increasing refusal of tech to listen to or care about the people who use its products.

open.substack.com/pub/leahreic...

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