Over the past couple of months, AVN Stars and Switter announced that they were shutting down their platforms.
Shifts in U.S. Social Media Use, 2020–2024: Decline, Fragmentation, and Enduring Polarization
The social media ecosystem appears to be in flux. Twitter’s rebranding to X has come to symbolize a broader reorganization of online publics – political reshuffling, user attrition, and uncertainty over the role of legacy platforms. Simultaneously, the shift from text-based, networked feeds toward algorithmically curated, short-form video has accelerated, with TikTok setting the pace for the wider ecosystem [18, 14, 16]. At the same time, everyday communication increasingly migrates from large, open networks to semi-private spaces such as group chats and messaging apps. Commentators describe a digital public sphere in transition: smaller, more fragmented, less dominated by traditional social networking sites, and rise of more broadcast-oriented forms of media – with some even suggesting that we are seeing the beginning of the end of the social media era.
Social Media Experiences Across Nearly 2 Years Since Launching the Social Media Index
With new data through January 2025, we find that social media use is decreasing, bad experiences are mostly holding steady, and positive experiences are increasing on some platforms
The year we wanted the internet to be smaller
Why tiny, weird online communities made a comeback in 2017
Social media platforms removed 4.7 million accounts after Australia banned them for children younger than 16
The figures, reported to Australia's government by 10 social media platforms, were the first to show the scale of the landmark ban since it was enacted in December over fears about the effects of harmful online environments on young people.
Rest of World faces prospect of shutting down
The six-year-old digital publication has seen the social and web search traffic on which it depends evaporate.
Can “Indie” Social Media Save Us?
Artisanal versions of Twitter and Facebook hope to keep the good while jettisoning the bad.
Free Our Feeds
Social media is broken: controlled by a handful of billionaires who shape what people see, say, and believe. These platforms profit from division, exploit user data, and lock people into closed systems.
Facebook and Instagram losing users, with signs pointing to low-quality feeds
Anecdotally, I’ve been hearing for a very long time that Facebook and Instagram users are growing ever more dissatisfied with...
Death by a thousand likes: How Facebook and Twitter are killing the open web
Here’s one way to understand the symbiotic relationship between publications and platforms in the digital age. Publications depend on advertising dollars to keep producing content, so they need to hold readers’ attention. Big platforms like Facebook and Twitter already have plenty of attention, but they need vast quantities of content to fill up their newsfeeds. It seems natural, then, that publications have started relying on platforms to drive readership.
Death by a thousand likes: How Facebook and Twitter are killing the open web
Here’s one way to understand the symbiotic relationship between publications and platforms in the digital age. Publications depend on advertising dollars to keep producing content, so they need to hold readers’ attention. Big platforms like Facebook and Twitter already have plenty of attention, but they need vast quantities of content to fill up their newsfeeds. It seems natural, then, that publications have started relying on platforms to drive readership.
Reclaiming Social Spaces: Are Open Source Platforms a Path for More Human Connection?
What if social media platforms were built to serve their communities, not billionaires? Join us with the founders of Blacksky as we explore the potential of open source social media.
How to Opt Out of Social Media Controlled by Big Tech
It might seem like there are simply no other choices for social media beyond those controlled by big tech companies, but that’s not true at all. In fact, we’re in a golden era of options being built
The Future of Sex Work Slams Up Against Big Tech
As influencers peddle more sexually explicit content, Big Tech's biggest platforms—Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter—are increasing restrictions.
It's obvious why we hate social media
We need better internet platforms. We're already building them.
My 2024 thoughts on the state of social media
I see a continued fragmentation of social media as people leave X(Twitter).
Custodians of the Internet
A revealing and gripping investigation into how social media platforms police what we post online—and the large societal impact of these decisions Most use...
