build your own space online
Hey, have you noticed how bad the internet’s gotten lately?
It’s like — click, and suddenly it’s all ads, paywalls, and “subscribe now!” pop-ups chasing you around. And social media? It’s turned into an endless stream of content the algorithm thinks you’ll like. We don’t really use it to connect anymore — we just doomscroll through a pile of 20-second clips we barely remember five minutes later.
And don’t even get me started on the AI-generated content that’s flooding our feeds. I’ll probably write another post just about that.
But there’s still hope for people like us who actually care about what we create and consume. It’s called the IndieWeb and the Fediverse, and they’re basically alternatives to the “corporate web” and centralized internet we know.
If you’ve never heard of them, here’s some info:
- The IndieWeb is about owning and controlling your content and identity. Instead of building your digital life on platforms that prioritize profit, you build it on your own space.
- The Fediverse is a network of decentralized social platforms that can communicate with each other — think Mastodon instead of Twitter, or PeerTube instead of YouTube.
Honestly, for me, this is more than just having a blog. It’s about some freedom and independence. No, seriously, remember like the old-school internet days, when people actually made sites just for the fun of it? We can bring that spirit back.
So if you want to create your own online space, you can start right now. Pick a publishing tool. There are many options, depending on how hands-on you want to be:
- No-code friendly: WordPress, Ghost, Write.as, or Bear Blog let you start publishing almost instantly.
- For tinkerers: Static site generators like Hugo (the one I’m using), Jekyll, or Eleventy give you full control, and you can host them for free on services like Netlify or GitHub Pages.
- Simple: Even a single static HTML page is enough to start.
You can also check out Neocities or Nekoweb for a more retro, “old web” vibe. And if you get stuck, the 32bitCafe and the interactive Unplatform guide have plenty of resources.
The key? Don’t stress. Mess around, learn stuff, have fun. And this may sound cliché, but just be yourself.
If you actually made it this far, thanks for reading. Hope to see you on the fun side of the internet.