what i like about social media
I am talking about the things I don’t like about it enough; my social media tag is full of it. On the treadmill, I tried to think of things I like about it.
To me, social media isn’t the peak, the best we could come up with, and I think we will do better in the future. But what good stuff would these new online spaces ideally enable, too?
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One aspect I enjoyed when I used it is the ability to see what you would have otherwise simply missed out on. That can backfire of course, especially with bad news, but what I mean is: Great landscapes I’ll never visit in person, museum pieces, someone’s unique room or outfit, that amazing pastry. I remember in 2020, when I had TikTok for a total of 4 months (can you imagine!), my favorite was seeing cool waterfalls, diving videos, videos of someone hiking or speeding down a mountain with their mountain bike. I also liked craft videos: Seeing someone paint with gouache is what got me into it as well, and I also loved to see wire wrapping, amazing 3D embroidery, and more. I bought from some artists, too.
I mean the “not have seen” in a loose way here - of course there could be books and travel flyers and the odd shop in a city or a con that has some of these items. It would have required me to be at the right space at the right time, buying the right stuff, stopping to look at the right location, or know someone that does these things, or follow someone’s blog that does this, where they likely wouldn’t have easily created a video montage of it all. Having access to this so easily online, and being suggested it even, has exposed me to new hobbies, expanded what I know of the world, and let me see more beauty in it. I didn’t know you could find bones and shark teeth in riverbeds until seeing it in a short form video, and I didn’t know that some people live near spots where they can just go and break open rocks to find beautiful geodes. It reminded me again what’s all possible in this world, and made me love it more.
I also appreciate all the calming, uplifting videos and posts out there, the slices of life, just people casually showing their life without a profit incentive or advertising. I used to not know how other people get through the day, what they do all the time, and in typical angsty early-20s fashion, I wondered if I was living all wrong and others got it figured out. Removing the mystery and seeing others are also just people eating their lunch and walking around listening to some music and all that was freeing. Yes, there are people portraying a lie online for brand deals, but here and there, you can still find down-to-earth people just living an average life, being open about it.
The way seemingly everyone has a social media profile participating in casual trends like dancing or what’s in my bag or what I eat in a day, while blogs and websites seem to be reserved for business and deep writing in the eyes of many, is a contributing factor why people feel like they can’t let loose on a blog. That’s why it has been easier for me in the past when I still used it to find a visual diary of someone on social media than elsewhere, at least numbers-wise and how quick it is to find.
The posts fighting misinformation and manipulation are so important - with a caveat I guess, since many are just reacting to viral posts on the same service that wouldn’t exist without it. But: There’s also the DIY guides, the free courses, the (correct) health PSAs.
It can be hard to get these things shared around to enough people except through chain mails I guess, or sending links around in general, so I can appreciate some stuff just somehow ending up on your feed - how to spot a heart attack, how to give CPR, how to do the Heimlich maneuver, how to talk to someone who’s having a panic attack or what to do if you have one. Or maybe, sex education, or how to make a tourniquet, how to treat pepper-sprayed faces. All of that is not necessarily stuff you seek out on your own and might not be taught locally. It should be easy to spread information like that, and social media right now makes it easy.
I love that social media makes public events and protests more known so more people will attend, and shows things that state-media wants to hide and control the narrative about. I like that people have gotten places to stay, have gotten out of debt, have escaped abuse, were able to save their pet, have gotten medical care or were prevented from going houseless thanks to donation posts being easily shared and the chance to go viral. That is an aspect that might be hard to replicate with a network of personal websites and blogs, I admit that.
It’s good that it gives people a voice that otherwise wouldn’t be heard anywhere; would an abuse victim that wants to talk about their story and the signs to warn others really go on a TV show, or make a whole blog shouting into the void, hoping others would find it? Would people in Gaza want to do all that setup to document the crimes Israel commits daily when all they have is a phone, to receive 15 upvotes on Bearblog? The hashtags, comments, likes and resulting placement in the algorithm likely help in those cases. It gives people control over their own narrative (what to share, how to edit, where to post) while not having to rely on the reach of big publishers or a big blog to talk about it first. These downside is that your profile can be removed much more easily than your website.
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These things are not impossible off of it; just different, maybe harder, maybe not quick to come across. It seems to really come down to the ease of setup, the ease to create with inbuilt tools, the ability to file it somewhere others can find it, and the chance to see things you did not expect or curate your webreader for.
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Published 31 Aug, 2025