Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey Invests $10 Million in Open Source Projects
Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and current Block CEO, is not only working on new social apps like Bitchat and Sun Day but has also put $10 million into funding experimental open source projects that could revolutionize the social media landscape.
This investment is channeled through an online collective known as “and Other Stuff,” which was established in May. The team includes Dorsey, Evan Henshaw-Plath (Twitter’s first employee), “Calle” (creator of Cashu), Alex Gleason (former engineering head at Truth Social), and Jeff Gardner (fourth employee at Intercom).
The group’s main project, Nostr, is an open and “apolitical” social networking protocol that has been at the center of Dorsey’s attention since Twitter’s sale to Elon Musk and his departure from Bluesky’s board. The team is also exploring other tools like ActivityPub, the protocol behind Mastodon, and Cashu.
Dorsey has been vocal about his concerns regarding the evolution of social media platforms. He believes that Twitter should have remained a protocol rather than a company, and he sees similar issues with Bluesky, which he feels is repeating the mistakes made at Twitter.
The “and Other Stuff” team is focused on experimentation rather than building a company. They describe themselves as a “community of hackers” working on technologies ranging from consumer social apps to developer tools that empower others to create their own apps.
One of their projects, Shakespeare, is a platform similar to Lovable but designed specifically for creating Nostr-based social apps with AI support.
The team has also developed heynow, a voice note app on Nostr, Cashu wallet, private messenger White Noise, and the social community +chorus, all based on Nostr, in addition to Dorsey’s existing apps.
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Advancements in AI-based coding have enabled such experimentation, paralleling how technologies like Ruby on Rails and Django drove the earlier iteration of the web known as Web 2.0.
To further explore these ideas, Henshaw-Plath interviewed Dorsey for the inaugural episode of his podcast “revolution.social with @rabble.” The conversation delved into Twitter’s history, Dorsey’s views on social media’s missteps, and potential solutions.
Dorsey emphasized the importance of maintaining Twitter as an open protocol rather than a company, citing the challenges faced by Bluesky, which, despite being structured as a public benefit corporation, still encounters issues typical of traditional social media platforms.
In contrast, Dorsey envisions a more decentralized approach akin to Bitcoin, where protocols are open and not controlled by any single entity. This philosophy aligns with his involvement in Nostr and the broader mission of “and Other Stuff.”
Future episodes of the podcast will feature guests like Kara Swisher, Taylor Lorenz, Yoel Roth, Chris Best, Tony Stubblebine, Cory Doctorow, and Renée DiResta, offering diverse perspectives on the evolution of social media and technology.
The “and Other Stuff” team is also crafting a social media “Bill of Rights” to outline the essential requirements for platforms in areas such as privacy, security, transparency, and self-governance. This initiative aims to hold platforms, including Bluesky, accountable to users amid external pressures.
Dorsey’s initial investment has kickstarted the nonprofit’s operations, with contributions ranging from iOS app development to Android versions and various social media experiments. Exciting developments are on the horizon, according to Henshaw-Plath.
“There are things that we’re not ready to talk about yet that’ll be very exciting,” he hints.
