It’s hard to believe but some good things did happen online 2025.
Scrolling around the internet these last 12 months hasn’t always been a pleasant experience — our timelines were full of AI slop, recession fears, and misinformation. But good things did manage to happen, too.
Mashable has kept tabs on uplifting digital stories with our Good Connection series. And if you need a timeline cleanse to end 2025, we’ve got eight online stories from this year that’ll do just the trick.
1. The ‘Ask an Axolotl’ earworm
January feels like ages ago by now, but it was the month we were all humming along to a little ditty about an axolotl. TikTokker @doctor_waffle posted a video about the adorable amphibian. It’s cute and so, so catchy.
Sure, the song was clearly intended for children but it seemed to soothe anyone with a pulse.
2. Everyone rallied for Buddies coffeeshop
When Rachel Rose, the owner of Buddies Coffee Roasters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, sobbed on camera, there was no way she could’ve predicted the response. She was going to lose the place she worked so hard for, and her emotion was real and raw.
People rallied in response, absolutely flooding Buddies with business. Even celebs like Joe Jonas showed up. Lines wrapped around the block.
Buddies did close — the situation with their lease wasn’t fixable — but it seems Rachel and the roasting business are both thriving.
3. The cutest Craigslist love story
Oscar season gifted us the story of how Colman Domingo met his husband. Somehow, some way, Craigslist’s Missed Connection section sparked a whirlwind, decades-long love story. It’s truly the sweetest thing.
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4. A Yankee who simply loves burritos
New York Yankees catcher Austin Wells went viral this year for his passion project: reviewing breakfast burritos. During his travels throughout the season, he’d try breakfast burritos and rate them. That’s it. Just a dude loving burritos.
Wells does seem to be a fair reviewer, however. His top-rated burrito of the year came from the clubhouse of the Mets, the Yankees’ crosstown rival.
5. The foster dog who stole our hearts
I’m a big fan of Isabel Klee, or @SimonSits on TikTok, who regularly takes in foster dogs. The internet as a whole fell in love with one of Klee’s fosters, Tiki, who was rescued from pretty rough circumstances. The little pup healed with Klee from a dog that was clearly scared and scarred, to a precocious, adorable dog that got adopted.
It was such a lovely story.
6. The little niece who made the song of the summer
It’s a pretty simple story: Creator @day1keenan has a niece who wanted to sing. And sing she did, making an absolute banger that many called the song of the summer.
This TikTok racked up more than 60 million views.
That little girl genuinely has talent and I could listen to that ditty all day long.
7. The NYC subway kitty
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a kitty ride the subway but it is freaking adorable. Look at this cosmopolitan little baby just hop right on.
As if the story couldn’t get any sweeter, the commuter who scoops up the kitten in the video ended up adopting her. She’s named Emmie, in honor of NYC’s MTA.
8. Pop-up food pantries to the rescue
SNAP benefits were thrown into chaos amid the government shutdown this year, and neighbors came to the rescue to help one another. There were countless videos of pop-up food pantries, which appeared seemingly overnight to help neighbors.
AJ Owen (@ajpgh412) had perhaps the most viral pantry moment, when an anonymous donor dropped off a stack of cash to fund the pop-up Owen started with his children.
“The outpouring online is…overwhelming in the best way possible,” Owen wrote in an email to Mashable at the time. “Seeing so many other people touched by what we are doing and deciding to do something as well brings tears to my eyes. Give people an opportunity to help and they will absolutely do it!”
So, yes, 2025 wasn’t always great. But there were some truly lovely moments, too.
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