The problem
A person can appear across several services, with separate conversations, accounts, and feeds. Bringing those experiences together creates two problems at once: preserving the identity of the person and preserving the source and meaning of each interaction.
My contribution
My work spans product architecture and engineering across the interface, identity model, and connector boundaries. Open Media is a cross-platform private beta organized around Feed, Clips, and Messages. The product explores a consistent experience across services while keeping each service’s actual capabilities visible.
People before provider accounts
The identity model treats a person as the central record, with reviewed provider identities attached to it. Messages retain their source even when presented in one conversation. This allows a coherent view without erasing where a message came from or implying that different providers are interchangeable.
Capabilities shape the interface
A connector can expose only the actions it supports. Reading, sending, publishing, and receiving updates are separate capabilities. Unavailable actions remain disabled. This makes an integration boundary part of the product experience, rather than something a user discovers only after attempting an action that cannot work.
What works—and what is still exploratory
The repository documents live Open Media profiles and native direct messaging, alongside email connection and import tools. Feed and Clips use fictional sample posts. The Matrix bridge is a local development sandbox. These distinctions matter: the private beta demonstrates the architecture without claiming that all providers are connected or that sample feeds represent live social activity.
The continuing design challenge
A unified interface needs to stay understandable when its sources have different rules. Open Media’s approach makes people consistent while leaving provenance and availability explicit. The next steps for any additional provider depend on that provider’s supported access and an integration verified for its actual users.