What New_ Public does

New_Public is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit R&D lab founded in 2019 and based in New York, with a team of 11–50 employees. Its mission is to reimagine social media by building digital public spaces — community, governance, and infrastructure that serves the public rather than advertising-driven engagement maximization. The organization's work has two strategic pillars: (1) helping local communities across America create flourishing digital spaces, and (2) developing prototypes for digital conversation in partnership with public-service media organizations.

The product portfolio centers on four assets. Roundabout is a local-community web app built from the ground up with community leaders using human-centered design to help neighbors connect and steward local life. Civic Signals is a research framework of 14 qualities organized around four building blocks (Welcome, Connect, Understand, Act), developed through two years of expert consultation with 100+ specialists and validated with more than 20,000 respondents across 20 countries. The Digital Spaces Directory is a curated, Airtable-backed catalog of prosocially designed digital spaces intended as a field resource. The Public Spaces Incubator runs cohort-based co-design projects with public-media institutions.

The revenue model is grant- and donation-based, not commercial. Funding has come from major philanthropic foundations including the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Omidyar Network, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Siegel Family Endowment, Unfinished, and New Pluralists. The organization does not sell subscriptions, licenses, or services; instead it distributes research, frameworks, and the Roundabout app through its website and steward-led pilots. Co-Directors Eli Pariser (author of "The Filter Bubble") and Deepti Doshi lead operations alongside Co-Founder Talia Stroud, who also directs the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin.

Name

New_ Public

Legal name

New_ Public

Website

https://newpublic.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

New_Public is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit R&D lab that builds digital public spaces, including the Roundabout local-community app, the Civic Signals research framework, a Digital Spaces Directory, and a Public Spaces Incubator for public-service media partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Public Infrastructure Software

NAICS

Social Advocacy Organizations (8133), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Media Digital Platforms & Streaming (Apps, On-demand, Podcasts) (MPABADAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

PR, Reputation Management & Earned Media Platforms (BPAMALAO), Public Communications, Transparency & Open Government (BPAIAAAH), Digital Development & ICT4D / GovTech Technical Assistance (BPADAEAL)

Keywords

• Digital public spaces
• Community platform software
• Civic technology research
• Prosocial platform design
• Online community moderation

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: New_ Public is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that relies on donations and grants to fund its research and development work on digital public spaces. Funding has been received from foundations including The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Omidyar Network, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Unfinished, and New Pluralists.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

New_ Public is a nonprofit R&D lab that builds and studies healthier digital public spaces, distributing its work as open research, frameworks, and software. Its primary products are Roundabout, a local community web app co-designed with community leaders, the Civic Signals Framework (14 qualities across four building blocks) for evaluating prosocial platforms, the Digital Spaces Directory of exemplary platforms, and the Public Spaces Incubator for prototyping with public service media organizations. Outputs are made freely available to communities, stewards, researchers, and institutions rather than sold commercially.

Product overview

New_ Public is a nonprofit R&D lab that reimagines social media by building digital public spaces. The portfolio consists of Roundabout (a local community web app for neighbors), the Digital Spaces Directory (a curated research resource of prosocial digital platforms), the Civic Signals Framework (a research methodology with 14 signals for healthy online spaces across four building blocks: Welcome, Connect, Understand, and Act), and the Public Spaces Incubator (partnering with public service media on digital conversation prototypes). The organization also conducts research on local digital spaces and publishes findings through platforms like Front Porch Forum studies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Roundabout: A local community web app built to help people live a flourishing life in their local town or neighborhood. Features deliberate and human-centered design for neighbor connections.
• Public Spaces Incubator
• Civic Signals

Products and services

• Roundabout A local community web app built from the ground up with community leaders and neighbors, designed to help people in a town or neighborhood connect, share resources, and live a flourishing local life. Distributed free of charge to community stewards and pilots.
• Digital Spaces Directory A curated directory of digital spaces that have taken notable steps to build public-spirited user experiences, embody Civic Signals, or implement creative new design patterns. Accessible via Airtable integration for browsing, filtering, and research; developed in collaboration with All Tech Is Human, the Greater Good Science Center, and the Center for Media Engagement.
• Civic Signals Framework A research-based framework of 14 key qualities for healthy digital public spaces, organized into four building blocks (Welcome, Connect, Understand, Act). Developed through two years of literature review, 100+ expert consultations, and testing with 20,000+ superusers across 20 countries, and offered as an evaluation and design tool for platforms, researchers, and designers.
• Public Spaces Incubator An incubator program that partners with public service media organizations to co-design and develop prototypes for healthier digital conversation and online community experiences.

Quantifiable outcome

• 81% of Front Porch Forum users felt they could become a more informed citizen on the platform, compared to 26% on Facebook and 32% on Nextdoor
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• All Tech Is HumancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration partner for the Digital Spaces Directory project, working together to study and curate digital spaces that embody prosocial design principles.
• Greater Good Science CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration partner for the Digital Spaces Directory, bringing research expertise in well-being and healthy community dynamics.
• Center for Media EngagementcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration partner at The University of Texas at Austin, co-developing Civic Signals research and Front Porch Forum case study. Talia Stroud serves as both Co-Founder of New_ Public and Director of the Center for Media Engagement.
• Front Porch ForumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSubject of research collaboration - a Vermont-based local community platform studied to understand how digital spaces can encourage civic engagement and strengthen communities. New_ Public and Center for Media Engagement conducted comprehensive research on FPF's positive community impact.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Front Porch Forum: A Vermont-based, family-owned neighborhood web platform serving as New_ Public's flagship research case study and a directly comparable model of a local, steward-led digital public space — exactly the kind of community New_ Public's Roundabout app aspires to enable elsewhere.
• Bluesky: Decentralized social media protocol positioned as an alternative to engagement-maximizing incumbents; New_ Public has publicly engaged with AT Protocol governance, and both share the thesis that healthier public conversation requires different infrastructure rather than feature tweaks.
• Nextdoor: Largest commercial neighborhood social network; Roundabout targets the same local-community use case at a different scale and with a nonprofit, research-backed operating model, making it a direct functional competitor despite vastly different resourcing.
• Mastodon: Federated, nonprofit-leaning social network that competes with Bluesky for the alternative-protocol mindshare; both represent the same 'reimagine social media' thesis New_ Public advances through research rather than product.
• Center for Humane Technology: Nonprofit focused on aligning technology with human well-being; overlapping mission around healthier digital public life, with a more advocacy-oriented posture versus New_ Public's R&D and product-building approach.
• All Tech Is Human: Nonprofit coalition working on responsible tech; New_ Public is an active co-development partner on the Digital Spaces Directory and shares a stakeholder-building, field-development posture in the responsible-tech ecosystem.
• Center for Media Engagement (UT Austin): University-based research center co-developing Civic Signals and the Front Porch Forum research; Talia Stroud directs both this center and is Co-Founder of New_ Public, making it the lab's closest research-operations peer.

Broad incumbents

• Mozilla Foundation: Established nonprofit advocating for a healthy internet and funding public-interest tech; a much larger and broader incumbent operating in the same 'digital public infrastructure' category where New_ Public is building credibility and product.
• Wikimedia Foundation: Operator of the canonical example of a large-scale nonprofit digital public good; conceptually adjacent as a model for funding, governance, and sustainability of non-commercial public-interest platforms that New_ Public's work aspires to enable.

Emerging players

• Datasphere Initiative: Nonprofit exploring digital public infrastructure and data stewardship; thematically adjacent to New_ Public's work on healthier online spaces and an emerging peer in the broader prosocial-tech field.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WeAreNew_Public
• Facebookfacebook.com/wearenewpublic
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wearenewpublic

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about New_ Public