indie-web
TLDR : This is an exploration of the indie-web.
The indie web is a community of people building personal independent websites to host their own data, rather than on centralised platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. The principles :
Your content is yours – When you post something on the web, it should belong to you, not a corporation. Too many companies have gone out of business and lost all of their users’ data. By joining the IndieWeb, your content stays yours and in your control.
You are better connected – Your articles and status messages can go to all services, not just one, allowing you to engage with everyone. Even replies and likes on other services can come back to your site so they’re all in one place.
You are in control – You can post anything you want, in any format you want, with no one monitoring you. In addition, you share simple readable links such as example.com/ideas. These links are permanent and will always work.
My Reasons :
1. You own all of your content
You are in control. You can post whatever you want without moderation or monitoring. You are not beholden to an external entity. This is simply html (with some css, js) hosted on a server. I own the content.
2. Greater protection against content loss
These platforms will shut down, lose your data or block your account. Social media is not that old. I used to have a Facebook account when I was in my late teens/early 20’s. I shut that down because I wasn’t really using it, but accidentally lost a few photos/videos that I won’t get back.
3. Homebase on the internet
It feels like you are constructing a small wooden fort on the internet. I love this. My intention for this website is mostly :
- Facilitate a level of creativity. I love sci-fi, but writing is incredibly difficult. This is an incentive to write more.
- Record of becoming : I like posting about my outlook on life at a snapshot in time. For example, I wrote some advice to myself when I was 20 years old. Another one at age 25. I’ll likely do one at 30 years old. It’s a record of becoming and change.
- Articulate certain viewpoints. At least for me, I can’t express something cogently and logically without writing it down first.
- Portfolio/Journal for any projects. I’ve made several projects over the years, but I never really documented them. For example, I made a text based choose your own adventure game when I was 14. I’ve lost it! This is the same for multiple projects. This makes me slightly sad, so I am going to try document any projects I do (physical/digital) and keep a record.
4. Ownership/ Long term Project
You control how your website looks. It’s an act of creation. I find myself taking more ownership whenever I post on here, compared to Twitter. It’s not simply a passing tweet. I find that I try to post more thoughtful/longer viewpoints and opinions, even if it doesn’t always hit the mark. It’s a project I can keep running in the background of life without the addiction potential of mainstream social media.
You are also not being monitored. There are no adverts. No censorship. No terms of service. No mailing list.
5. Publish once, syndicate elsewhere (POSSE)
You can post on your website, and then redirect to it on other platforms. This allows you to still reach your family and friends.
PASTA : Publish anywhere, save to private archive. Automatically save a copy of whatever you post on social media so that it is under your control. For example : All my tweets, likes, bookmarks : get saved in Pinboard, and I have a local archive. Less vulnerable to site death. I can also archive any webpages I find useful, and then have a copy incase the original goes down.
Notes on Design
Conclusion
I’m moving away again from social media. This website will be an alternative.