10+ Best Articles on Social Networks
The most useful articles and videos on social networks from around the web—beginners to advanced—curated by thought leaders and our community. We focus on timeless pieces and update the list whenever we discover new, must-read articles or videos—make sure to bookmark and revisit this page.
Top 5 Social Networks Articles
At a glance: these are the articles that have been most read, shared, and saved on social networks by Refind users in 2023 so far.
Videos
Watch a video to get a quick overview.
NEW! Most Popular Social Networks 2003
Timeline of most popular social networks from 2003 to 2022. Measured by monthly active users worldwide. Data source: press releases, 10-k sec filings, indust...
NEW! Most Popular Social Networks 2003
Timeline of most popular social networks from 2003 to 2022. Measured by monthly active users worldwide. Data source: press releases, 10-k sec filings, indust...
Short Articles
Short on time? Check out these useful short articles on social networks—all under 10 minutes.
The inside story of how Facebook designed the like button—and made social media into a popularity contest
In terms of sheer impact, the like button was one of the most successful pieces of code ever shipped. But when you examine the quality of that impact, its flaws become glaring.
The importance of social networks for innovation and productivity
Social networks facilitate the diffusion of ideas across individuals and firms, and because of this, they play an important role in productivity growth. In this post we explain how this works.
Niche Networks
Rethinking scale for social networks in the era of app inundation
The year social networks were no longer social
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 term to define a group of products. But are social networks even social anymore? If you have a feeling of tech fatigue when you open the Facebook app, you’re […]
Long Articles
These are some of the most-read long-form articles on social networks.
Mastodon: A New Hope for Social Networking
With centralized, ad-driven social networks in disarray and suffering from misinformation, harassment, and declining users, can the long-simmering Mastodon microblogging system offer a distributed…
Ranked: The World’s Most Popular Social Networks, and Who Owns Them
Currently, there are over 4.5 billion people around the world who use some form of social media—about 57% of the global population. Yet, while social media&
How to buy a social network, with Tumblr CEO Matt Mullenweg
Matt Mullenweg explains the myriad challenges now being faced by Elon Musk.
Why These Social Networks Failed So Badly
Sixteen years ago, the sun set on Web 1.0, and we embarked by the light of our smartphones to 24/7 connectivity, down a road paved with corporate blunders, littered with yesterday’s top 8 friends,…
Publications
We monitor hundreds of publications, blogs, newsletters, and news sources in Social Networks, including:
Our World in Data
Data and research to understand big global problems and make progress against them. Based out of @UniOfOxford, founded by @MaxCRoser. @ourworldindata@vis.social
Visual Capitalist
Data-driven visual content focused on global trends, investing, technology, and the economy.
M.G. Siegler
General Partner @GVteam. I write @500ish & @reviewinhaiku. On the road w/ @msquinn 👩🏻 & @maisiesiegler 👧🏼 #GoBlue 〽️🍻
TidBITS
The oldest purely electronic technology publication on the Internet
TNW
Join us on June 15 & 16 in Amsterdam at #TNWConference and "Reclaim the future" - Last chance to get your tickets (80% sold out) The Heart of Tech ❤️
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Every day Refind picks the most relevant links from around the web for you. Picking only a handful of links means focusing on what’s relevant and useful. We favor timeless pieces—links with long shelf-lives, articles that are still relevant one month, one year, or even ten years from now. These lists of the best resources on any topic are the result of years of careful curation.
How does Refind curate?
It’s a mix of human and algorithmic curation, following a number of steps:
- We monitor 10k+ sources and 1k+ thought leaders on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
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The result: lists of the best and most useful articles on hundreds of topics.
How does Refind detect «timeless» pieces?
We focus on pieces with long shelf-lives—not news. We determine «timelessness» via a number of metrics, for example, the consumption pattern of links over time.
How many sources does Refind monitor?
We monitor 10k+ content sources on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
Which sources does Refind monitor on social networks?
We monitor hundreds of sources on social networks, including Our World in Data, Visual Capitalist, M.G. Siegler, TidBITS, TNW, and many more.
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