Socially Limited
I've always been intruiged by the idea of social media. I like the concept of it, sharing media, and making friends. I enjoyed Instagram because of how photo focused it was. I loved the idea that I could post a game screenshot and talk about the game with others that enjoyed the same thing.
I've gone through many social media sites and apps trying to find the perfect ones after Instagram took its dive for me several years back. I didn't leave Instagram for good until recently though when they implimented the "Ai" nonsense. For awhile I stopped social space hunting though. I found Cohost, Pillowfort, and Mastodon/fedi when I picked up the curiosity again.
I love Pillowfort but I prefer posting specific things on there and it's not very big yet with activity. Mastodon/fedi started off good but I came to realize it was like having a discord server but on an advanced level with power some people really just shouldn't have. It's a good concept but doesn't feel worth it unless you make your own instance or a trusted friend does.
Well today I began my hunt again out of curiosity. The only places I post on now really are Bluesky and Pillowfort. Technically also Status Cafe and Piclog but I don't fully count those. While starting my hunt is when I realized how few options for social media apps there are. I remember there being more when I was younger but I guess most died out due to the big companies.
It's a weird feeling. While I feel having large platforms where a majority of people are is a good idea in the sense of finding people and having activity I do wish there was more options even if it spread out where people posted/socialized. If I had the time and energy to make my own social media app I would because there's so many improvements the bigger apps are just missing out on. A good algorithm, profile badges to get to know you better, profile tags, profile galleries, the ability to search through likes, and so much more.
People as a whole should really just reach out to the indie web again at this point. Making their own websites, joining forums or sites like pillowfort, making blogs like this again. It's something I wish I could've experienced in its prime but really it would be such a good thing to bring back to mainstream. It would completely breakdown the limited system we have going here allowing people to have more options and ways to express themselves and share what they love.