The Kindness Mob’s Volunteer Crew Could Fit on One Conference Call

The Kindness Mob, the volunteer group that floods bullied people’s social media posts with kind comments, has gained a lot of company since CBS News told its story in October. Founder Tyler Brickley described the response in an email interview with Hooray News on Oct. 26.¹

“Thousands of messages and comments. Tens of thousands of new supporters. Five to ten exciting media opportunities. Flying to New York next week for one of them but I can’t tell you about that just yet!”

Hooray News first wrote about the group on Oct. 24. That story followed Kahri Salyars, 28, of King George, Virginia. In March she posted a TikTok video about losing 40 pounds, and it drew a full month of hateful comments before a wave of encouragement buried them.⁴² She later figured out that Brickley was behind the turn. “Positivity overtook the hate,” she told CBS News.²

CBS reported that the Mob has digitally rescued about 400 strangers since 2023.² For people on the receiving end, the help is simple: a pile-on of meanness gets outnumbered by people who are kind.

How The Kindness Mob works

Brickley, of Kansas City, Missouri, started the group on Jan. 1, 2023.²¹ His idea was that many hateful commenters are following negative peer pressure, and that the same pull could work in reverse.¹ In a BBC feature, he described the Mob as a form of trolling.³

Members get a weekly email listing people to “mob.” Most of the action is on TikTok, though the group is expanding to Facebook and other platforms. The rules are strict. Comments must be real and individual, with no copy-pasting and no bots, and members are asked not to mention the Mob.¹

“We make every effort for them to never find out,” Brickley told CBS.² It doesn’t always hold. Salyars, who told CBS she wondered “where are all these really nice people coming from?”, eventually worked it out.²

Sometimes the effect outlasts the comments. Laura Tigeleiro, a recipient featured in the BBC’s coverage, said she gained enough followers that TikTok started paying her.³

Kindness Mob numbers: big averages, smaller “typical” mobs

According to live counters on the group’s website as of Oct. 26, the Mob has run 380 mobs, left 743,388 comments and has 580.5k followers, which it calls “mobsters.” Those figures are the group’s own. They change daily and have not been checked by anyone outside the group.¹

The site lists an average of 2,759 comments per mob. Brickley explained that the most viral mobs pull that number up.¹

“Avg is technically over 2500/mob, but the math nerds will appreciate the “typical” number of 389. That’s what you get when you throw out the top ten most viral mobs.”

Even 389 kind comments is a lot to wake up to on a video that had been drawing insults.

All of this is organized by about five volunteers, Brickley said.¹ That is a very large mob for a crew that could share one conference call.

What’s next

Brickley said he wants to grow, but not alone.¹

“I really want to provide more mobs on more platforms. We have so many ideas to expand our project, but need a primary partner to be able to make some of these things happen.”

He said the best way to get involved is the group’s weekly email, which links to mob options on all the major social media platforms.¹ Anyone can nominate a person to be mobbed, and members can also suggest people on Instagram, Facebook or YouTube. The Kindness Mob Inc. is a Missouri nonprofit corporation, and its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is pending.¹