Can We Build a Better Social Network?

Over the past year we’ve been working with the podcast “Search Engine” on a project that reimagines what the internet can be. What if instead of rage-baiting, a social platform incentivized friendly interaction and good faith discussion? Today we’re bringing “Hard Fork” listeners an episode we made with the “Search Engine” team called “ The Fediverse Experiment ” where we end up creating our own social media platform. Guest: PJ Vogt, host of the podcast “ Search Engine .” Additional Reading: The Dream of the Fediverse Is Alive on Threads What Is Mastodon and Why Are People Leaving Twitter for It? We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com . Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok .

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Can We Build a Better Social Network? is an episode from Sway by The New York Times.

This episode is 00:40:48 long.

This episode was published on Jan 13, 2026.

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