







Why didn't the FOAF standard give us distributed social networking in the 2000s?
Social Networking Utopia — Matt
In discussing the network topology of social networks — whether centralized like Facebook or federated like ActivityPub — I think the ult...

The year social networks were no longer social | TechCrunch
The term “social network” has become a meaningless association of words. Pair those two words and it becomes a tech category, the equivalent of a single

Facebook Wrestles With the Features It Used to Define Social Networking (Published 2021)
Likes and shares made the social media site what it is. Now, company documents show, it’s struggling to deal with their effects.

First post: A history of online public messaging
From BBS to Facebook, here’s how messaging platforms have changed over the years.



Workplace by Facebook opens to sell enterprise social networking to the masses | TechCrunch
After 20 months in a closed beta under the working title Facebook at Work, (as we predicted it would the other week) today Facebook is finally

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.
FediForum | Growing the Open Social Web:<br>An Online Un-Workshop
Since the Twitter takeover by Elon Musk over three years ago, the Open Social Web has been adopted by an enthusiastic community. People world-wide are building and using open social platforms and open social protocols to better interact with others online.

How to Fix Facebook—Before It Fixes Us
An early investor explains why the social media platform’s business model is such a threat—and what to do about it.

The year we wanted the internet to be smaller
Why tiny, weird online communities made a comeback in 2017

FR#160 – Everyone Wants Servers And Nobody Wants Servers
What makes a social network resilient?

After the Feed: Trust, connection, and the next era of social technology | New_ Public | May 2026
After the Feed: Trust, connection, and the next era of social technology By Eli Pariser, Co-Director, Angelica Quicksey, Managing Director, Arnobio Morelix, AI Fellow May 2026 Newpublic.org
After the Feed: Trust, connection, and the next era of social technology | New_ Public | May 2026
After the Feed: Trust, connection, and the next era of social technology By Eli Pariser, Co-Director, Angelica Quicksey, Managing Director, Arnobio Morelix, AI Fellow May 2026 Newpublic.org
A New Social
Our mission is to liberate people's networks from their platforms, enabling The Last Network Effect and leveling the playing field across the open social web.
A New Social
Our mission is to liberate people's networks from their platforms, enabling The Last Network Effect and leveling the playing field across the open social web.