Tech Bros Laid the Foundation, But Women Built Social Media

The story of social media has usually been told from the perspective of tech bros, set to a soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz argues in her new book, Extremely Online, that the real protagonists of the story are actually the users, who figured out what these platforms were best at before the people who invented them did. “Venture capitalists act like Mr. Beast invented it all,” Taylor says. “It was mothers, women, marginalized people, LGBTQ people.” Taylor guides Sam through the under-reported history of social media, from mommy bloggers who pioneered content monetization to brands tweeting about Scandal.

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