Kevin Roose
News director at Fusion, executive producer and co-host of Real Future, and author of Young Money
Discussion
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Kevin Roose
@kevinroose
Well hello! I'm Kevin Roose, news director at Fusion and executive producer of "Real Future," a new documentary TV series about technology and the future. (Coming soon to screens near you!)
Before Fusion, I was the tech columnist at New York magazine, and I've written two books: Young Money and The Unlikely Disciple. I love telling stories about the human side of technology, and have written on topics like the 1099 economy and the use of technology inside prisons.
I'm also psyched about our tech-themed live event spectacular (don't call it a conference) in San Francisco next weekend: Real Future Fair. Tickets are available here.
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Casey Newton
@caseynewton · Silicon Valley editor, The Verge
@kevinroose Hi Kevin — I've been following your work for a while now and am a big fan. Would you say that you learned more about startups at Digg or at Google Ventures?
Michael Sitver
@msitver · Curator @ Morning Short, Commute Kit
Craig Kochis
@craigkochis · Facebook
@kevinroose After founding Digg, what are your thoughts on the rise of Reddit, and particularly, their new approach with https://upvoted.com/ ?
Lauren Kay
@laurenikay · CEO, Dating Ring
@kevinroose Whatever happened to that raccoon you threw down the stairs? Is your dog okay?
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Kevin Roose
@kevinroose
@laurenikay I think you have me confused with...no, you know what, nevermind.
Ryan Hoover
@rrhoover · Founder, Product Hunt
Kevin! Welcome! I'm curious to hear your thoughts on Facebook Instant Articles, Snapchat Discover, Medium, and other hosted distribution platforms. Are these good for journalists and publications? How do you see journalism changing in the next 5 years?
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Kevin Roose
@kevinroose
@rrhoover I really like them! I do have one worry about them, but it's probably not the one you're thinking of.
What worries most journalists about ~distributed content~ is the loss of economic independence, when stuff isn't hosted on your organization's site and you can't sell display ads against it. And, sure, okay! But this all happened in the digital video world years ago, with content migrating to YouTube, and the digital video world hasn't ended. I think, ultimately, the revenue-share arrangements will be worked out, and media people will grumble, but it will be okay.
The thing I worry about is the standardization of presentation. On Facebook Instant Articles, or on Snapchat Discover, or even on Medium, there is a limited set of tools to make your organization's stories *look* and *feel* different from those of any other organization. And when one company creates a set of practices that work really well, everyone else rushes to copy it. There is a real homogeneity of form developing on the social web, and I think that's going to hurt media companies in the long run. (Plus, it's boring! Imagine if all books had the same cover!)
Jacqueline von Tesmar
@jacqvon · Community, Product Hunt ✌️😻
What's something you used to fervently believe that you now see as misguided?
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Kevin Roose
@kevinroose
@jacqvon I used to think personal privacy didn't matter. I was part of that crew that yawned whenever Facebook or Google or some other company did some horribly invasive thing. (I think I actually said once: "Why do you care about privacy if you're not doing anything wrong?")
But working with my brilliant colleagues (especially Kashmir Hill, who is the world's best privacy reporter) and thinking more deeply about the intersection of privacy issues with race and criminal justice issues has convinced me that I was wrong.
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
Hi Kevin thanks for joining us today. What was your most a) most challenging article at New York Magazine, b) proudest c) most surprising. Thanks!
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Kevin Roose
@kevinroose
@ems_hodge The most challenging story was probably a long profile of Ray Dalio, the hedge fund billionaire. (http://nymag.com/news/business/w...) He's so secretive, and his workplace is so controlled, that it was super hard prying secrets out of people close to him.
The most rewarding was probably this excerpt from my book about a Wall Street secret society, which broke some personal records for me and really launched the book into the stratosphere: http://nymag.com/daily/intellige...
And the most surprising was probably this profile of a grad student who threw a wrench in the global austerity movement. (http://nymag.com/daily/intellige...) It did bananas traffic, which is weird, considering it had "grad student" and "austerity" in the title.
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
What do you enjoy most from your varied roles - writing books, writing the column, hosting the TV show, producing the show, being the news director at Fusion? What are the main differences (aside from the obvious) how do you juggle everything?
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Kevin Roose
@kevinroose
@ems_hodge I don't juggle so much as pick up one ball, watch the others drop violently to the ground, then pick up the shards of another one and toss those into the air. Seriously, I am awful at time management, and pretty bad at self-care. When I was writing my second book, I wore one of those Jawbone bands that tells you how much you sleep. And I had accidentally shared my sleep figures with some friends. And one day, one of them texts me a screenshot of my sleep data and is like, "dude, you are going to die."
But I'm getting better. I find it helps to break up the day by project. So I'll slay some emails from 7-9, work on writing from 9-11, and spend the afternoon doing TV stuff.
Any tips would be appreciated!
Russ Frushtick
@russfrushtick
@kevinroose What episode of Real Future are you most excited about?
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Kevin Roose
@kevinroose
@russfrushtick Oh man. It's like choosing a favorite child. But I'm pretty psyched about a segment I hosted on revenge porn. We found a new window into that topic that is really scary and eye-opening.
Lejla Bajgoric
@lejlahunts · Intern, Product Hunt
Hi Kevin :) Of all worlds to follow and write about, what is it about startups that'd led you to choose this?
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Kevin Roose
@kevinroose
@lejlahunts I decided to move out to the Bay Area in 2011, and at the time, writing about startups was kind of a pragmatic necessity, since it was *the* national story happening here. (New York magazine wasn't going to send me to San Francisco to cover the Giants.)
But I do think there is something uniquely fascinating about tech culture, and especially tech culture in the Bay Area, where we have kind of this cargo cult thing happening. It's really fertile ground for storytelling, and investigative work—both because, as we've seen with Theranos recently, a lot of these startups are under-scrutinized, and because it's just a whole nexus of power and ambition and money. That's always a great recipe for stories.