Introducing User Magazine

Why I'm leaving legacy media to pursue independent journalism

Today I am excited to launch my new publication, User Magazine, on Substack, under which I will pursue the type of reporting on the internet that has become increasingly difficult to do in corporate media.

We now live in a world where politicians can post their way into office, memes fuel our stock market, and online culture and mainstream culture are so deeply intertwined that it’s impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins.

User Mag is founded on the belief that the real story of technology lies with its users. Instead of focusing on corporate earnings and boardroom conflicts, User Mag will cover how people are actually using technology. 

I will be reporting on the people and movements that are steering tech and internet culture, from weird online phenomena, to under-the-radar trends, to content creators, platform developments, policy initiatives, and the powerful forces that shape our online world. It's about who has power on the internet and how that power is being wielded. 

User Mag will arrive via email 1-3 times a week, and paid subscribers will have commenting privileges, access to subscriber-only chats, and will receive exclusive, deep-dive analysis pieces among other benefits. It will include a mix of originally reported articles, interviews, and links to what I’m reading and watching online. 

Please consider buying a yearly subscription to help me continue my work. 

Of course, I’ll still be doing my weekly tech and online culture news podcast, Power User, available on all platforms. (If you're a brand that would like to advertise on my podcast or collaborate in any way, please reach out on hello@usermag.co!) 

When I started my career as an independent blogger 15 years ago, my goal was to provide a counter narrative to the technology and online culture coverage I was seeing in the mainstream media. Many traditional journalists at the time sneered at bloggers, dismissed online fandoms, ignored the now nearly half a trillion dollar content creator industry, and failed to recognize the ways in which the internet was upending our culture, economy and political system.

As digital media arose, many of us early bloggers and content creators were scooped up by old school institutions. Legacy media tried desperately to position itself as a credible source for news about online culture. But, many of these institutions, for all their power and prestige, have proven themselves fundamentally unprepared to navigate today’s chaotic, contentious, fast-paced, and highly nuanced online media landscape. 

Take, for example, Gamergate which started almost exactly 10 years ago in August 2014, a watershed moment that revealed just how little the traditional media understood about online culture. In the decade since, the legacy media has ignored every single major lesson that should have been learned about the internet’s capacity for mass mobilization and the ways bad actors warp public discourse and weaponize the media itself. 

Through my work, I've tried to help people understand technology and the internet's profound impact on our world. I have held senior management roles within newsrooms, lobbied media executives, produced research reports, published endless reporting, and spoken at conferences around the world arguing that we must give online figures, events, and movements the nuanced coverage and analysis they deserve.

But as the internet and media has evolved, it has become clear to me that legacy media is not the right primary environment for the kind of work that I want to do.

I’ve always operated in a weird liminal space, often labeled as an “influencer” or content creator as much as a journalist. And I am, and have always been, both. But the legacy media is not set up for people like me.

The truth is that in today's media environment, these distinctions are meaningless. We are all part of the same media ecosystem; we can all have a voice online. These artificial lines were demolished years ago.

The journalists I’m most inspired by today are those who have taken their voices back into their own hands— independent content creators who challenge powerful institutions and carve out their own space in a crowded media landscape.

By going independent, I hope to do more of what I love: helping people understand the world around them, inspiring them to build a better internet, holding power to account, and honestly, having a lot more fun!!

I want to do all of this without worrying about some corporate overlord and without the constraints of institutions that, at times, are more concerned with optics than with challenging power. I want to experiment with new formats in storytelling without navigating a vast corporate bureaucracy. I want to be able to write freely and speak directly to people via Substack, TikTok, YouTube, my podcast, and run my silly meme pages. 

I also firmly believe that the era of faux neutrality—the “view from nowhere” style of journalism—is over. I will always be upfront and honest about my perspectives and where I’m coming from. Sometimes you might disagree with me, or I might be wrong(!), and I’d rather hear that than pretend I’m not a human being with opinions. This transparency is, to me, the essence of trust in journalism.

Unfortunately, I am not independently wealthy. I have rent to pay, living expenses, and significant medical costs. I am also incurring significant costs associated with operating independently including business and software fees, paying for things like design work, editing support, subscriptions to research materials, internet costs, equipment, and more. I have zero investors or corporate backing.

If you received this newsletter as an email from me today, that means you're already a free subscriber to my email list. I sincerely hope you'll consider going paid.

The internet has given us all the tools to tell our own stories, to reach audiences directly, and to build something new. That’s what I intend to do with User Mag. I hope you’ll support me on this journey by purchasing a yearly subscription.

User Mag will begin publishing regularly next week. 💓 

Subscribe today to support independent journalism about the internet!