Jess Maddox
@jessmaddox.bsky.social
Social media expert. Media studies prof, University of Georgia. Thoughts mine.
👇🏻👇🏻
Subscribe to my free Substack newsletter on all things social media!
https://bythewaysocial.substack.com
https://buymeacoffee.com/jessmaddox
👇🏻👇🏻
Subscribe to my free Substack newsletter on all things social media!
https://bythewaysocial.substack.com
https://buymeacoffee.com/jessmaddox
That’s a finished book, baby.
December 15, 2025 at 9:50 PM
That’s a finished book, baby.
Reposted by Jess Maddox
People always ask me how I’m able to write and publish so much, but you don’t see is me currently lying on the floor of my office yelling to my husband that I can’t write this book anymore while my dog licks my hair.
December 15, 2025 at 3:30 PM
People always ask me how I’m able to write and publish so much, but you don’t see is me currently lying on the floor of my office yelling to my husband that I can’t write this book anymore while my dog licks my hair.
For the fourth year in a row, I was asked to write for Nieman Lab's end of the year predictions. For 2026, I wrote that it's time we de-influence news influencers.
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/de-i...
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/de-i...
De-influencing news influencers
"It may be easy to follow the most popular news influencers out there, but is it possible to trade out that consumption for one who is in your community?"
www.niemanlab.org
December 10, 2025 at 7:34 PM
For the fourth year in a row, I was asked to write for Nieman Lab's end of the year predictions. For 2026, I wrote that it's time we de-influence news influencers.
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/de-i...
www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/de-i...
Reposted by Jess Maddox
Our students have raised 90 percent of their $25k goal.
Will you help them cross the finish line?
Will you help them cross the finish line?
Our students are raising money to keep their magazines going after the University of Alabama suspended them for foregrounding the voices of women and African Americans.
If you've got the means, please support them.
givebutter.com/F0LNOA
If you've got the means, please support them.
givebutter.com/F0LNOA
Keep the Free Press Alive at the University of Alabama
By Media Alumni Seeking to Highlight Equity and Diversity
givebutter.com
December 10, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Our students have raised 90 percent of their $25k goal.
Will you help them cross the finish line?
Will you help them cross the finish line?
Reposted by Jess Maddox
You can now pre-order my book, Making the Liberal Media, directly from Columbia University Press!
Use the discount code CUP20 and save $7!
cup.columbia.edu/book/making-...
Use the discount code CUP20 and save $7!
cup.columbia.edu/book/making-...
Making the Liberal Media | Columbia University Press
Conservatives have disagreed about many things, but they have long been united by the belief that the mainstream—or “liberal”—media is biased against... | CUP
cup.columbia.edu
December 10, 2025 at 2:51 PM
You can now pre-order my book, Making the Liberal Media, directly from Columbia University Press!
Use the discount code CUP20 and save $7!
cup.columbia.edu/book/making-...
Use the discount code CUP20 and save $7!
cup.columbia.edu/book/making-...
Reposted by Jess Maddox
Don't look now, but based on early returns Democrats have a shot at flipping a legislative seat in Georgia tonight... The results from Athens are gigantic for their candidate. More momentarily.
December 10, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Don't look now, but based on early returns Democrats have a shot at flipping a legislative seat in Georgia tonight... The results from Athens are gigantic for their candidate. More momentarily.
Very excited to announce that I am in the process of selling my first trade book to a major U.S. publisher. More information to come in the new year, and I can't wait to share the stories about what this journey entailed and tell you about the book.
December 8, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Very excited to announce that I am in the process of selling my first trade book to a major U.S. publisher. More information to come in the new year, and I can't wait to share the stories about what this journey entailed and tell you about the book.
This year:
- I accepted a new job and resigned from my old one.
- My husband was laid off by Elon
- My beloved uncle passed away unexpectedly
- I sold my house
- We moved to a new state
- I started a new job
- I made two huge academic career decisions that I can't wait to tell you about
- I accepted a new job and resigned from my old one.
- My husband was laid off by Elon
- My beloved uncle passed away unexpectedly
- I sold my house
- We moved to a new state
- I started a new job
- I made two huge academic career decisions that I can't wait to tell you about
December 5, 2025 at 4:26 PM
This year:
- I accepted a new job and resigned from my old one.
- My husband was laid off by Elon
- My beloved uncle passed away unexpectedly
- I sold my house
- We moved to a new state
- I started a new job
- I made two huge academic career decisions that I can't wait to tell you about
- I accepted a new job and resigned from my old one.
- My husband was laid off by Elon
- My beloved uncle passed away unexpectedly
- I sold my house
- We moved to a new state
- I started a new job
- I made two huge academic career decisions that I can't wait to tell you about
When I taught at Alabama, the students working for these magazines were some of the sharpest, best students I’ve ever taught. No one forced the university to shut down these magazines - it was a preemptive, cowardly move. I stand in solidarity with my former colleagues & students.
The University of Alabama has shut down two student-run magazines—one focused on female undergraduates and one focused on Black undergraduates—following Donald Trump’s anti-DEI policies.
December 4, 2025 at 3:22 PM
When I taught at Alabama, the students working for these magazines were some of the sharpest, best students I’ve ever taught. No one forced the university to shut down these magazines - it was a preemptive, cowardly move. I stand in solidarity with my former colleagues & students.
My favorite part of Spotify wrapped is all the ways it calls me obsessive and neurodivergent at the end of every year.
December 3, 2025 at 12:44 PM
My favorite part of Spotify wrapped is all the ways it calls me obsessive and neurodivergent at the end of every year.
16 year old me is very happy right now.
December 2, 2025 at 6:09 PM
16 year old me is very happy right now.
Excited that my work with Celeste Oon has been accepted into the 2026 Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference! We’ve been researching live streamers who stream their jobs, from uber drivers to farm workers to line cooks.
December 1, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Excited that my work with Celeste Oon has been accepted into the 2026 Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference! We’ve been researching live streamers who stream their jobs, from uber drivers to farm workers to line cooks.
Reposted by Jess Maddox
NEW PUB ANNOUCEMENT!
out today in @ejcs-journal.bsky.social, I wrote about lolcows, livestreaming, and how platform affordances and anti-fan practices catalyze digital freakery.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
out today in @ejcs-journal.bsky.social, I wrote about lolcows, livestreaming, and how platform affordances and anti-fan practices catalyze digital freakery.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
December 1, 2025 at 2:43 PM
NEW PUB ANNOUCEMENT!
out today in @ejcs-journal.bsky.social, I wrote about lolcows, livestreaming, and how platform affordances and anti-fan practices catalyze digital freakery.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
out today in @ejcs-journal.bsky.social, I wrote about lolcows, livestreaming, and how platform affordances and anti-fan practices catalyze digital freakery.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
Out now in my Substack: My thoughts on Cambridge Dictionary selecting "parasocial" as their word of the year, and how this isn't just a phenomenon for celebrities anymore.
bythewaysocial.substack.com/p/btw-we-are...
bythewaysocial.substack.com/p/btw-we-are...
BTW: We Are All Parasocial Now
You, me, and your friend obsessed with Taylor Swift
bythewaysocial.substack.com
December 1, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Out now in my Substack: My thoughts on Cambridge Dictionary selecting "parasocial" as their word of the year, and how this isn't just a phenomenon for celebrities anymore.
bythewaysocial.substack.com/p/btw-we-are...
bythewaysocial.substack.com/p/btw-we-are...
I'm slowly pivoting to holiday time off - my next Substack post drops the Monday after American Thanksgiving and contains all of my thoughts about "parasocial" as Cambridge Dictionary's word of the year.
open.substack.com/pub/bytheway...
open.substack.com/pub/bytheway...
BTW: We Are All Parasocial Now
You, me, and your friend obsessed with Taylor Swift
open.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:00 PM
I'm slowly pivoting to holiday time off - my next Substack post drops the Monday after American Thanksgiving and contains all of my thoughts about "parasocial" as Cambridge Dictionary's word of the year.
open.substack.com/pub/bytheway...
open.substack.com/pub/bytheway...
I was listening to a podcast of authors talking about "bad review" parties where everyone brings their most brutal review to try to win a predetermined prize.
Academics should do this with peer reviews.
I think my "amusing at best, waste of academic time at worst" is a strong contender.
Academics should do this with peer reviews.
I think my "amusing at best, waste of academic time at worst" is a strong contender.
November 24, 2025 at 5:08 PM
I was listening to a podcast of authors talking about "bad review" parties where everyone brings their most brutal review to try to win a predetermined prize.
Academics should do this with peer reviews.
I think my "amusing at best, waste of academic time at worst" is a strong contender.
Academics should do this with peer reviews.
I think my "amusing at best, waste of academic time at worst" is a strong contender.
Recent adventures in cooking.
November 24, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Recent adventures in cooking.
Reposted by Jess Maddox
“I watched as Bobby cut nearly a half billion dollars for research into mRNA vaccines, technology that could be used against certain cancers.” Heartbreaking piece by Tatiana Schlossberg, President Kennedy’s granddaughter and RFK Jr.’s cousin.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
A Battle with My Blood
When I was diagnosed with leukemia, my first thought was that this couldn’t be happening to me, to my family.
www.newyorker.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:10 PM
“I watched as Bobby cut nearly a half billion dollars for research into mRNA vaccines, technology that could be used against certain cancers.” Heartbreaking piece by Tatiana Schlossberg, President Kennedy’s granddaughter and RFK Jr.’s cousin.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
A hard, beautiful read that shows Jack Scholssberg was being diplomatic about RFK jr’s comments on cancer.
My mom died of this same type of leukemia. It’s a brutal, highly aggressive form of cancer…that is absolutely not cause by vaccines.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
My mom died of this same type of leukemia. It’s a brutal, highly aggressive form of cancer…that is absolutely not cause by vaccines.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
A Battle with My Blood
When I was diagnosed with leukemia, my first thought was that this couldn’t be happening to me, to my family.
www.newyorker.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:14 PM
A hard, beautiful read that shows Jack Scholssberg was being diplomatic about RFK jr’s comments on cancer.
My mom died of this same type of leukemia. It’s a brutal, highly aggressive form of cancer…that is absolutely not cause by vaccines.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
My mom died of this same type of leukemia. It’s a brutal, highly aggressive form of cancer…that is absolutely not cause by vaccines.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Other examples…included Lily Allen's breakup album West End Girl, which leaned into a parasocial interest in her love life, and the emergence of parasocial relationships with AI bots, which saw people treat them as a confidant, friend or romantic partner.”
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Parasocial is named as Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year
Examples include the parasocial interest shown by fans to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's engagement.
www.bbc.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:48 PM
“Other examples…included Lily Allen's breakup album West End Girl, which leaned into a parasocial interest in her love life, and the emergence of parasocial relationships with AI bots, which saw people treat them as a confidant, friend or romantic partner.”
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Tomorrow in my newsletter: Vine is back. Here's what it means for the creator economy.
open.substack.com/pub/bytheway...
open.substack.com/pub/bytheway...
BTW: Vine Is Back.
But nostalgia can only make it so successful
open.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Tomorrow in my newsletter: Vine is back. Here's what it means for the creator economy.
open.substack.com/pub/bytheway...
open.substack.com/pub/bytheway...
When I talk about us all being casually parasocial with each other, this is what I mean.
Online spaces have invited us to decimate our boundaries and social etiquette and then try to write it off as normal. It invites us to treat everyone as friend - even when they’re a stranger.
Online spaces have invited us to decimate our boundaries and social etiquette and then try to write it off as normal. It invites us to treat everyone as friend - even when they’re a stranger.
November 20, 2025 at 2:21 PM
When I talk about us all being casually parasocial with each other, this is what I mean.
Online spaces have invited us to decimate our boundaries and social etiquette and then try to write it off as normal. It invites us to treat everyone as friend - even when they’re a stranger.
Online spaces have invited us to decimate our boundaries and social etiquette and then try to write it off as normal. It invites us to treat everyone as friend - even when they’re a stranger.
It warms my heart that my students this semester are extremely anti-AI
November 19, 2025 at 10:53 PM
It warms my heart that my students this semester are extremely anti-AI
Reposted by Jess Maddox
1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
September 24, 2025 at 6:36 PM
1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that