In a digital world where outrage often travels faster than compassion, Tyler Brickley had a simple question: What if kindness got there first?

That question became the foundation of the Kindness Mob, an online movement Brickley launched on Jan. 1, 2023, after growing weary of the increasingly hostile tone he encountered online.

“It was a lot of things piling up, not one specific post,” Brickley said. “After COVID, everyone was online way more, including me, and the negativity just kept accumulating.”

Then came a realization that would change everything.

“New Year’s Day 2023 I was on my phone scrolling and I started noticing that the first few comments on a video set the tone for everything that followed,” he said. “If a video gets two or three negative comments out of the gate, it’s like it gives everyone else permission to pile on.”

“And I thought, ‘What if the first comments were kind instead?’ Would the mean person even show up?”

With that, The Kindness Mob was born.

Brickley describes it as “the same psychology behind an angry mob pointed in the opposite direction.” Each day, participants flood a selected creator’s social media post with encouraging comments, helping to drown out negativity and remind people that kindness still exists online.

What has surprised him most, however, is not the impact on those receiving the comments.

“It’s how much it ends up changing them,” he said of the volunteers who participate. “People sign up because they want to make someone else’s day, which makes sense, that’s the whole pitch. But I’ve gotten countless messages over the last few years that all say some version, ‘I’ve been doing this every day for a couple weeks and I had no idea it would change my outlook like it has.’”

Brickley calls the effect “the 3 Ps: Planned Purposeful Positivity.”

“It doesn’t take much to reshape how you see the world,” he said. “I didn’t see that coming. It’s just a really cool byproduct of what we’re doing.”

Although there is no formal membership roster, the movement’s growth has exceeded anything Brickley originally envisioned.

“When I started this, my whole goal was getting 10 people to do it with me daily,” he said.

Today, the organization tracks participation by counting the number of comments left during each “mob.” That figure now averages more than 750 comments per featured creator.

“Still a little surreal that we’re so far past that,” Brickley said.

Some of the stories that emerge from those daily acts of kindness are remarkable. A few weeks ago, the Kindness Mob rallied around Laura, a recipe creator who had become the target of online bullying.

“She just makes recipe videos,” Brickley said. “She had around 7,000 followers when we mobbed her, and as of today she she has over 100k followers and said they were able to use the money she has made from her recipe videos to buy a new car her family has been needing.”

The support helped draw attention to her content, but Brickley is quick to give credit where it’s due.

“The Mob showed up, but her amazing recipe content carried her the rest of the way,” he said. “Mobs like that feel really good, where it’s not like we’re making an account go viral but more like we’re pointing them out and then they go viral on their own.”

Another story resonated for a different reason. The Kindness Mob once selected someone whose political views differed sharply from many participants. One commenter initially resisted.

“They said something like, ‘This one was tough for me. I saw who we were supposed to be kind to, said no way, and scrolled. Then it kept bugging me and eventually I went back and left him a kind comment. Sitting here in tears now, glad I did.’”

For Brickley, that moment captured the heart of the project.

“The mission is kindness for everyone always, and the ‘everyone’ is the word doing the heavy lifting,” he said. “It’s easy to be kind to people you already agree with.”

Brickley even got to experience the power of a “mob” himself; when recovering from back surgery, his wife secretly nominated him.

“I woke up after the surgery to hundreds of the most beautiful, encouraging comments and I sat there and ugly cried,” he recalled. “It was so cool to experience what we’re doing from the receiving end.”

That experience reinforced his belief in the project’s importance.

“I go back to that thread sometimes when I need a reset,” he said.

Behind the scenes, Brickley credits a dedicated team of volunteers for keeping the operation running.

“We are around 10 people right now, and the whole thing falls apart without them,” he said.

Among them is Nick, who built much of the organization’s website and nomination system.

“Every nomination gets categorized, sent through multiple rounds of review, and filtered by several pairs of eyes before it reaches me,” Brickley said. “All of that is his work.”

He also praised Connie, who reviews nominations and helps select recipients each day.

“Most nominations come with a heavy story attached, and reading those day after day takes a toll,” he said. “She does it so I can show up and make the video.”

Brickley also offered gratitude to Katie, an early supporter who helped shape the idea during its infancy.

“We lost touch a while back, but I think about her from time to time with immense gratitude,” he said.

For all the growth and attention the Kindness Mob has received, Brickley insists it was never intended to become a movement.

“It was supposed to be ten people and a screenshot,” he said.

Yet perhaps the success of the Kindness Mob reveals something hopeful about the state of the internet — and about people themselves.

“The fact that it’s grown into what it is today (and still growing) tells me a lot about people and society as a whole,” Brickley said. “There are so many people out there who, maybe just like the person reading this, are saddened by the amount of hatred they see on the internet and want to try to make a difference.”

And in typical Kindness Mob fashion, he ends with a reminder that collective positivity can be just as powerful as collective outrage.

“It’s possible to stand alone against an angry mob and make an impact,” he said, “but it’s much more effective to bring a mob of your own.”

Join The Kindness Mob on socials (@thekindnessmob) or go to thekindnessmob.org.