From MySpace to Mutual Aid

It’s hard to imagine a world without social media. I remember begging my mother to let me make a MySpace account like my older brother. I was 12 when I made my Facebook account, already thinking about what I was going to post as I sat through classes. The ability to socialize with people I wanted to be friend with but didn’t quite have the nerve to go up and talk to, the amount of information I could consume in small chunks while learning what my friends thought about it, keeping up with what people were doing — it was a whole new world that allowed me to learn how to socialize and build my own confidence as I found myself in the world.

I wonder why MySpace didn’t make it big like Facebook. Maybe the fact that MySpace allowed for more user customization and prioritized self-expression over other aspects of networking on the internet. You were in charge of the way your page looked when someone went to your profile, playing your favorite song as soon as the page loaded for all users to hear. The page layout, the GIFs, the images, the sounds, the side bar. You created your page. But maybe what people wanted wasn’t necessarily a place to showcase their individuality, but a place to connect. I think that desire to connect with the outside world is the best thing that social media has to offer us.

In the 20 years since then, social media has evolved and adapted to meet the needs of its users in so many more ways than one—culturally, politically, mentally, financially. It was hard then to anticipate the problems that would arise in the sociocultural landscape within which it is used, from mental health struggles and shifting political discourse to declining trust in institutions, conspiracy culture, and new moral dilemmas we are still trying to understand.

Despite these problems, social media has made it exponentially easier for people to find each other around shared values, humor, grief, and meaning. Not only has it allowed marginalized communities to be in control of their own voices, it has created forums and safe spaces for individuals experiencing unique human experiences they probably wouldn’t find otherwise. Communities around identity, illness, parenting, mutual aid, social movements, or simply just loneliness have helped people.

At the same time, I do worry about the future of social media as AI becomes more embedded in it. If you’ve ever wondered why Threads didn’t make it big despite its integration with instagram and the timing of Musks takeover of X, just scroll through a timeline. It feels like bots on bots on bots. Many users report leaving the app because of its repetitive and “rage-baity” content. Bots already make up nearly half of global internet traffic, and bad bots alone account for about 32% of all traffic, according to Imperva’s 2024 Bad Bot Report, and states that drastic rise in recent years is attributed to AI.

What worries me even more is how AI can intensify the worst parts of social media, such as echo chambers, manipulation, and disinformation. Algorithms are built to keep us engaged, which often means showing us more of what we already agree with or react strongly to. Add deepfakes to that environment, and the problem gets worse. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has warned that deepfakes can spread disinformation, erode trust, and fuel harassment, while UNESCO has also pointed to their role in worsening misinformation and making false content feel more believable through repeated exposure online. 

For activism, this can be incredibly risky. Social media can still raise awareness and connect people around important causes, but it can also distort reality when people think they are becoming more informed. A manipulated video, fake audio clip, or AI-generated image can move through an already polarized audience faster than fact-checking ever will. In that kind of environment, people are not only more easily misled; they can also be pushed toward outrage, fear, or even hatred on the basis of something that never happened at all. This can distort a person’s sense of reality, and when they feel validated by the people on their timeline, or have already rationalized what they are seeing, they may feel justified in engaging in behaviors they otherwise would not.

Still, I’m optimistic. Just as it would have been hard 20 years ago to predict the problems social media would create, it is probably just as hard now to see exactly how we will address the ones in front of us. But I’m confident in our ability to adapt. If MySpace was about self-expression, Facebook became about staying in touch, Twitter about immediacy, Instagram about visual identity, and Reddit about shared interests. Each major platform succeeded because it met a different social need better than the others. I also think my generation is becoming more protective of its time and more selective about what deserves its attention. There seems to be a growing fatigue with endless scrolling, rage-bait, and content designed more for performance than substance. The rise of platforms like Substack reflects this evolution. It meets a need that other platforms often do not, which is a desire for more thoughtful and genuine engagement. This matters for activism too. The platform shapes the form of activism that happens on it. The way people connect influences the kind of information they share, how they organize, and what kinds of action a platform is able to sustain. Social media continues to evolve, just as its users do, and I think it is only a matter of time before we develop better tools, new norms, and stronger literacy around what we consume, trust, and participate in online.