Social media is dead – here’s what comes next

One of the ironies not from the 21st century was that everything we thought was social media is in fact only mass media, except that it is terrible and broken. Fortunately, journalists and creators finally discover how to leave the old media models and enter the future.

The term “mass media” became popular in the 1920s to describe pop culture in the era of industrial production. Books, films and mass radio programs have created a paradigm for the public where thousands or even millions of people could experience the same precise media element at the same time. Before the 20th century, most people experienced their entertainment live, in theaters, bars and concert halls, where performance was always slightly different. But a film or a radio program was the same for everyone, it doesn’t matter when or where you lived it. You can buy standardized multimedia products for masses, just like shoes or cars.

Social media has not changed this formula. Platforms such as X, Facebook and Tiktok have been designed for mass consumption. Each article, Video and Livestream is a product intended for the widest possible public. Yes, you can target your media to certain demographic data if you wish or create filter bubbles. But the reason why followers count the matter is because we are still in a state of mind of the mass media, seeking to see who can provide content to the greatest number of people. It is nothing “social”. It is mass production under another name.

What if we try to make really social media, without soils and political scapegoats? One possibility is something called comfortable media, which refers to applications or other content designed to help you connect with small groups of friends, often in a friendly and soothing environment. Imagine the media equivalent of meeting friends to knit or play cards and talk next to the fire.

The Game Animal Crossing, with its missions with low challenges and its cute and natural setting, is an emblematic experience of Cozy. Application developers also try to reproduce this aesthetic in social applications – everything, from a group cat to an online reading club, can be comfortable. But it is not only a question of aesthetics. A comfortable social application is designed to limit your social interactions with random strangers, rather heading to trust friends.

I am very useful for the recently retro photo sharing application. Unlike Instagram, where retro creators cut their teeth, Retro is mainly intended to be used among small groups of trust friends. And there are no algorithms pushing videos of foreigners in your flow. When I open retro, I feel like I hear my friends rather than connect to a nonsense and advertising fire pipe. Notward that I post there is intended to go beyond a few dozen people. Like a group chat application, Retro allows you to choose who you want to talk about consciously, rather than shouting in a giant algorithmic vacuum.

We may need comfortable media to appease in a frantic and frightening period, but we also need news and analyzes. Unfortunately, many of our confidence sources of information collapse. In the United States, where I live, leave media such as The Washington Post,, The New York Times And national public radio, citing the reduction in resources and editorial freedoms.

Some, such as economist Paul Krugman and Molly White technology researcher, have created successful and financed newsletters for crowdfundage for their work. But most journalists do not want to go solo: good reports and analyzes often require a solid team. This is why many form cooperatives belonging to workers to start new publications, where they obtain institutional advantages such as lawyers, publishers and useful colleagues. This model is also good for consumers, who do not want to search and subscribe to dozens of individual newsletters just to catch up with current problems.

The cooperative model belonging to workers has already been a shattering success for several publications that have started in recent years. 404 Media is one of these sites, Breaking News in the worlds of technology and science. The defector is a cooperative belonging to workers who cover sports and politics; Aftermath covers games; Hear things covers music. Flaming Hydra (to which I contribute) is a collective that publishes a political analysis, interviews and cultural criticism. Coyote Media is about to get into the San Francisco Bay region to cover local news. And there are many other local media cooperatives belonging to workers.

Like mass media, social media often leads to loneliness and isolation. The goal of the comfortable media and publications belonging to workers is to rebuild the community and confidence. We may witness the birth of a new information ecosystem, designed to help us understand the world again.

Annalee week

What I read

The brilliant story of Moudy al-Rashid of MesopotamiaBetween two rivers.

What I look at

A new podcast on the media of former journalist-CNN Oliver Darcy called Electric lines.

What do I work

Write articles to collectively manage a publication Flamant Hydre.

Annalee Newitz is a scientific journalist and author. Their latest book is Automatic Noodle. They are the co-host of the Hugo winning podcast, our opinions are correct. You can follow them @annaleen and their website is techploitation.com