Sharing a project I built - Postcard
Over the last two years I've quit Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. I replaced social media with newsletters and blogs as the ways I stay in touch. Not many people have blogs - so I built a bot to let me follow Twitter users over email.
Getting tweets over email is a fantastic, calm experience. That got me thinking - What would social media look like without a central service?
Social media platforms promote dangerous viral dynamics. Plus, as social media platforms rise and fall - you can't move your followers between sites.
I tried hosting a blog as an alternative to social media. But, blog posts felt so permanent and formal that I rarely posted. Email newsletters feel more ephemeral - but existing tools tend to be complicated and business-focused. Nothing out there served as the harmonious integration of a personal website with a personal mailing list that I sought.
To recap, here's what makes a great, decentralized social media service:
Getting tweets over email is a fantastic, calm experience. That got me thinking - What would social media look like without a central service?
Social media platforms promote dangerous viral dynamics. Plus, as social media platforms rise and fall - you can't move your followers between sites.
I tried hosting a blog as an alternative to social media. But, blog posts felt so permanent and formal that I rarely posted. Email newsletters feel more ephemeral - but existing tools tend to be complicated and business-focused. Nothing out there served as the harmonious integration of a personal website with a personal mailing list that I sought.
To recap, here's what makes a great, decentralized social media service:
- Self-hosted profiles: Instead of twitter.com/philipithomas, use a domain I own - like philipithomas.com
- Updates over email: Meet people on the tools they already use and keep updates less formal than a blog post
- Data ownership and portability: You should be able to change tools and keep your followers.
That's what I've built - a project called Postcard. And, you're looking at it right now - this newsletter is sent through my Postcard, which I host at philipithomas.com.
If you want to set up a personal website, or if you want to move off of social media - take a look and let me know what you think: www.postcard.page.