An Axios tech reporter on her favorite corners of the internet
February 28, 2023
Here at Mozilla, we are the first to admit the internet isn’t perfect, but we are also quick to point out that the internet is pretty darn magical. The internet opens up doors and opportunities, allows for people to connect with others, and lets everyone find where they belong — their corners of the internet. We all have an internet story worth sharing. In My Corner Of The Internet, we talk with people about the online spaces they can’t get enough of, what we should save in Pocket to read later, and what sites and forums shaped them.
This month we chat with Ashley Gold, who covers big tech and regulators as a tech and policy reporter at Axios. She’ll be moderating a panel at SXSW in Austin, Texas called “Open Innovation: Breaking The Default Together,” featuring members from Mozilla’s innovation team.
What is your favorite corner of the internet?
My favorite corner of the internet is where I can read really good, insightful, funny TV, movie and music reviews. I love cultural criticism. I love TV recaps. I love album reviews. I love movie reviews. I love watching or listening to something and immediately being able to go on the internet and see what other people thought about it, and whether they came to the same conclusions as me and what they rated it and their analysis. I just love communities talking about a show or an album or movie together.
What is an internet deep dive that you can’t wait to jump back into?
I love any deep dive that’s about a very niche internet personality that only people who are very online would know. I love when there’s a deep dive into their life behind their Twitter account or something like that. I get way too interested in that kind of stuff.
I also really love a good long read, not necessarily about something that happened or a news event but about a person themselves. Profiles on people that I’m interested in, I’ll always click on
What is the one tab you always regret closing?
At Axios, where I work, we have a document that lays out all of our axioms, which is what we start our little paragraphs with. And every time I exit out, I realize I did it again.
What can you not stop talking about on the internet right now?
Any content that has to do with Rihanna and her pregnancy and her first baby. She just gave an interview to British Vogue. I had a baby a year-and-a-half ago and hearing Rihanna say the same exact thing that I did right after I had a baby just cracks me up because she’s a billionaire superstar and she’s having the same experience I did. So I’m loving anything that has to do with Rihanna, this current era.
What was the first online community you engaged with?
I had this Xanga [page] when I was in, maybe, sixth grade. I definitely wrote some things in my Xanga that were way too personal to put on the internet. A middle school boyfriend I had at the time read it and figured out I didn’t really like him. So I had some explaining to do.
What articles and videos are in your Pocket waiting to be read/watched right now?
I’m in the middle of finishing a long profile on The New York Times’ executive editor, Joe Kahn. I just finished up The New York Time Magazine’s profile on SZA. And I look forward to reading an article from Tim Alberta on Michigan State University.
If you could create your own corner of the internet, what would it look like?
It would be a lot of pop culture, music, movies and TV content. Makeup tips, workout tips, tips for new parents and generally a lot of positivity. The internet has too much negativity but I do think it’s still a good place for people to come together and you find like-minded people and get tips on everyday life things and live with intention.
What do you hope people will have a better understanding of from listening to the SXSW panel you’re moderating?
I hope that people understand that, even though their lives seem to be dominated by the biggest companies in the world and their products and their offerings, there are other organizations out there working on interesting groundbreaking technology that aren’t the biggest companies in the world. It might just take some challenging of our assumptions about what makes a successful company and whether that’s dependent on profit for those kinds of companies to really break through and have their products used by everyone.
Join Ashley, along with Peter van Hardenberg of Ink & Switch and Imo Udom and Liv Erickson of Mozilla, at their panel “Open Innovation: Breaking The Default Together” at SXSW in Austin, Texas on March 14. You can read Ashley’s work on Axios and follow her on Twitter at @ashleyrgold.
