{"id":309051,"date":"2025-10-16T21:31:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T21:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/309051\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T21:31:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T21:31:14","slug":"a-new-wave-of-social-media-apps-provide-hope-in-a-doomscrolling-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/309051\/","title":{"rendered":"A new wave of social media apps provide hope in a doomscrolling world\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zehra Naqvi recalls the magical days of the early social internet.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

She grew up in\u202fthe One\u202f Direction and Marvel fandoms\u202fin the early 2010s.\u202fThis was back when\u202fpeople posted photos of lattes using the Valencia filter on\u202fInstagram, and\u202fTwitter was still Twitter, a place where people came together to exchange jokes and cultural analysis.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

But now\u202fInstagram is full of influencers, and Twitter is X, a digital town hall with a \u202ffierce political divide.\u202f<\/p>\n

\u201cThe platforms that won were the ones that kept people scrolling the longest, not the ones that made them feel the most connected,\u201d\u202f Naqvi told TechCrunch.\u202f\u201cNow there is an abundance of content but a scarcity of joy.\u201d\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

But that is starting to change. Naqvi is\u202fpart of\u202fthe new wave of social media:\u202finterest-first, niche\u202fonline communities.\u202fThis month, she announced the\u202flaunch of her company<\/a>, Lore<\/a>\u202f \u2014 a site that helps fans keep up with their fandoms.<\/p>\n

Users increasingly want to spend less time on generalized\u202fsites like Facebook,\u202f\u202fInstagram, and Twitter, and instead join\u202fonline communities\u202ftailored\u202fto\u202ftheir interests, she believes.<\/p>\n

Natalie Dillon, a consumer investor at venture firm Maveron, says she\u2019s starting to see an increasing number of founders\u202fbuild interest-first networks.\u202f<\/p>\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cAt its core, consumer behavior is pushing a shift from performance to participation,\u201d Dillon told TechCrunch. \u201cFor the next generation, community\u202fisn\u2019t a feature layered on top of a product. It is the product.\u201d\u202f<\/p>\n

She\u202foffers examples\u202flike Beli<\/a>, an app that lets users share their favorite restaurants with friends, or\u202f Fizz<\/a>, which connects people\u202fgoing to the same college.\u202fOthers include the\u202f astrology-bonding\u202f app Co-Star<\/a>, or even Partiful<\/a>, which lets people connect with friends to plan events.\u202f<\/p>\n

These are the types of participatory apps that Naqvi wants to build \u2014 something resembling the early social internet before\u202fit\u202f \u201cbecame fractured and joyless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNiche spaces give people permission to be specific and to show up as their whole selves without being lost in the algorithm,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The previous generation of social media companies found success through \u201cmore,\u201d she continued; more followers, more reach, more noise.\u202f But some founders and users are now coming to a different conclusion \u202f\u2014 \u202fmaybe there \u202fisn\u2019t \u202fone social media app that will \u202fbecome \u201cthe next big thing.\u202f\u201d <\/strong>There will be several.<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have learned is that depth matters more than breadth,\u201d Naqvi said.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

Niche online communities are expanding <\/p>\n

Of course, private groups like subreddits, Discord servers, and Facebook communities have always existed.\u202fOn X, following many of the same accounts was also a way to\u202fenter a different online sphere: Think Tech Twitter or Black Twitter.\u202f<\/p>\n

But large\u00a0sites\u2019 algorithms curate content\u00a0for users by giving a person more of what they think they want to see. Content creators are not innocent either, feeding and fueling trends, topics, and discussions \u2014 anything that could spark fame and keep steady eyeballs on their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hit a saturation point,\u201d Naqvi\u202fsaid. \u201cEveryone is tired of doomscrolling and performative content.\u201d\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

In other words, the days of building large, generalized sites like Facebook are over, according to Claire Wardle, an associate professor at Cornell University, who studies contemporary information ecosystems.\u202f<\/p>\n

Wardle said users have grown worried about how much time they are spending online, content moderation, hyper-political spaces, and the permanence of social media posts.<\/p>\n

Naturally, there are a few glaring exceptions: Beijing-based TikTok, which has seen massive growth in popularity in recent years, was briefly outlawed in the U.S.<\/a> as the government worried over the scale of its potential influence. Even Facebook\u2019s Threads now has over 400 million active monthly users<\/a> as of this month.<\/p>\n

But all of these have founding roots in what has already become the \u201clast generation\u201d of social media. Wardle, in particular, called TikTok a \u201cbroadcast-style\u201d site.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the rare few who love the spotlight, that works,\u201d Maya Watson, founder of the recently shuttered social media website Why?!<\/a> said. She is now working on another app in stealth. \u201cMost people didn\u2019t sign up to be creators; we just wanted community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alphonzo Terrell\u2019s social network Spill has found much success by focusing on community.<\/p>\n

\"CEOImage Credits:<\/strong>Robin L Marshall\/Getty Images for AfroTech \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Spill became a refuge for Black X users who fled in the wake of rising extremism. Terrell said Spill shifted its design from simply feeding users content to matching them with communities that might be of interest to them.<\/p>\n

For example, those who like watching the WNBA can join a group specifically for that. Spill also has games, like Spades \u2014 a staple in the Black community \u2014 and has partnered with Netflix, Amazon, and Paramount to host co-viewing events called \u201cTea Parties,\u201d in which users can watch movies and sports together on the app.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next era of social media isn\u2019t about the biggest follower counts,\u201d Terrell told TechCrunch. \u201cIt\u2019s about depth; helping people find their people.\u201d\u202f<\/p>\n

Many Black users also fled to Blacksky<\/a>, founded by Rudy Fraser. With Blacksky, he\u2019s building an open-sourced network on the same protocol and distribution network as Bluesky<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Concept illustration depicting decentralized social network BlueskyImage Credits:<\/strong>Bluesky (opens in a new window)<\/a><\/p>\n

Bluesky\u2019s user base is currently nearing 40 million<\/a>, according to an online user tracker built with the Bluesky API. Wardle called the social network a representative of how online communities are seeking out content more tailored to their political interests, given Bluesky\u2019s left-wing bent. <\/p>\n

But Blacksky\u202ftakes it one step further.<\/p>\n

It targets minorities and marginalized individuals and has an algorithm that can filter out racial harassment.\u202f\u202fUnlike X, where a user might block one racist person and then see another,\u202f users on \u202fBlacksky\u202fcan completely filter out whatever they want from their timelines, providing a custom social media experience.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you need a global stage. Sometimes\u202f you just want a cozy corner with close internet friends where you can control who sees what,\u201d Fraser told TechCrunch.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

Users own their data and can decide to host such information\u202fon \u202fBlacksky\u202frather than Bluesky, giving them\u202f control over who has access to their content.<\/p>\n

People also vote on decisions together, Fraser said,\u202fsuch as what the community guidelines should be and if non-Black users should be allowed to post in the community.\u202f\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil now, folks have had to make the choice, unconsciously or otherwise, between the jankiness of the fediverse or closed platforms where they have no control,\u201d Fraser said. (The fediverse is another network of open social web services<\/a> built on a different protocol, ActivityPub.) <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re demonstrating with AT Protocol that you can have a great user experience, have a good time again on the internet, and have real autonomy the entire time,\u201d Fraser said.<\/p>\n

Investors are following other trends, too<\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence is playing a big part in helping build more niche social communities.<\/p>\n

Austin Clements, a managing partner at the firm Slauson & Co., is seeing founders use AI to build apps that understand nuance so well, they go beyond niche social networks into tailored experiences.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

\u201cThe newer apps are natively built for the niche itself, enabling them to create the tools and features most relevant to that niche,\u201d he told TechCrunch. \u201cIn fact, newer applications typically lead with the tools and call the social part \u2018community.\u2019\u201d\u202f\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

Naqvi\u2019s product has an AI tool, though she remains mum on further details. Her product is a search engine that lets people go down internet rabbit holes. It provides an interactive experience, linking to fan theories, cultural context, and easter eggs; it builds personalized graphs, reveals fandom updates, and gives users monthly reports on their obsessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our early testers said it best: \u2018It\u2019s like Wikipedia \u2014 but if Wikipedia knew exactly what I was thinking,\u2019\u201d she said, adding that her users call her \u201cMother Lore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"EvanImage Credits:<\/strong>Lore<\/p>\n

Emily Herrera, a consumer investor who worked at Slow Ventures, said that creators, like Naqvi, are now in the front seat of this new social media ecosystem. Creators are moving away from participating in the \u201cbroadcast\u201d ecosystem to instead building environments in which they operate\u202fas owners, she said, citing newsletters as an example of this trend.<\/p>\n

Dani Tran, a principal at BITKRAFT Ventures, said she\u2019s also seeing the further rise of \u201cniche passion communities\u201d in gaming, giving Superbloom<\/a>, a gaming studio that targets underrepresented audiences, as an example.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking ahead, the most vibrant social communities will be those built around interactive experiences,\u201d she said.\u202f<\/p>\n

Maveron\u2019s Dillon added to that. \u201cThe winners will be the platforms that combine intimacy, utility, and creativity in one ecosystem,\u201d she said.\u202f\u201cThey won\u2019t look like traditional social networks; they\u2019ll feel like multiplayer environments where people can build, buy, and belong all at once.\u201d\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

Or, as Naqvi put it: People \u201cwant tools that help them remember why being online was fun in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zehra Naqvi recalls the magical days of the early social internet.\u202f\u202f She grew up in\u202fthe One\u202f Direction and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":309052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[345,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-309051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-social-media","9":"tag-technology","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115385983839407106","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}