When I decided to create this blog and finally launched my first post two weeks ago, the only motivation was to reclaim my personal space on the web. I have been talking to my late Millennial/early Gen Z friends and we all share the same thoughts on social media: we are all sick and tired of it. We all miss those times when the internet meant freedom, the online spaces allowed us to be more creative, no algorithms were used to define what we should or shouldn’t read, etc.
Shortly after that first post, I did what I always do: I browsed the web to see if more people were doing the same thing. I found this video by Luvstar Kei where they tried to convince viewers to create a website. I saw their website, and it immediately gave me lots of inspiration. I’m not really an artist, but I knew I wanted a blog. And then I saw something I hadn’t seen in ages: A LINKS SECTION! And then I clicked on some links, then more, then more… and then I fell into this rabbit hole of personal websites and haven’t gotten out of it.
My husband showed me the Indie Web manifesto, and now everything makes sense to me. There is a whole community of people who also sensed a problem with how the internet is set up these days. And these people are actively trying to change it by creating their own websites. They took their dissatisfaction to the next level, and it became activism against big corporations and data ownership.
I know there is no consensus on how and why internet freedom should be achieved. Some might want this movement just because they miss the late 90s and early 2000s aesthetics. Some might relate to minimalism as a movement, and their motivations behind leaving social media have to do with more productivity, fewer distractions, or a fun environment where they can express themselves without judgement. Some might have political reasons behind it; hence, decentralising media and building open-source communities are all ideas deeply rooted in left-wing concepts.
I’m not new to blogging: I created my first blog in 2004 and, although I have lost track of how many blogs I created throughout these years, you can definitely expect more than ten. Some were personal diaries, some were focused on pixel art, some were fashion and makeup blogs… And the list goes on. My last blog was a failed attempt to take blogging seriously, like those people who make money online do. The blog’s name was my actual name. The layout was all black and white and professional. I had a strict posting schedule and I would post twice or three times a week. I had collaborators who would write in their personal columns. And, of course, I desperately tried to play Google’s game and include as much SEO as possible in my posts.
Posting was fun, but it became stressful because people would say “Your blog is nice, but I don’t read blogs anymore, I want videos”. Then I created a YouTube channel. Then the same people would say “Your videos are nice, but I don’t have the patience to watch long videos anymore. You should post on Instagram and TikTok”.
If my experiences in this post resonate with you, I invite you to share in the comments how you feel about these communities and what aspects of them you feel connected to. I would love to read your thoughts.
This Barbie loves pink!
I think wanting to reclaim your personal space on the web is a great reason to create a (new) blog! Because yeah, the internet nowadays feels like it is largely owned by a few huge corporations that control all the websites where people can go.
The web that was originally made by the people, “normal people” so to speak, has been shoved into a corner. Through changes like algorithms and SEO it has become almost impossible to be seen as a “normal person” running a blog, or even a small webshop.
Thank you so much for sharing the Indie Web manifesto, I’m definitely going to have a good look at it! It makes me SO happy that there is an entire community of people who dislike what the internet has become.
I’ve basically been running my blog in the shadows all these years. I often thought I would be more successful if I made YouTube videos instead. But the thing is… I don’t want to make YouTube videos. I want to run a blog! So, stubborn as I am, I continue to run my blog the way I like it. I figured I would one day reach more people who are interested in this old school sense of browsing the internet.
And after stumbling upon LuvstarKei’s video and your blog – and I’m excited to go through all of your links still – I feel I’m a step closer to having a sense of community again with like-minded people. Because social media just isn’t it for me.
Hey Mari, thank you for your comment! Yes, there is a whole community of people sharing the same values, and they’re quite bigger than I expected! I highly recommend browsing through my Links section when you have time, I’m trying to include lots of useful information about the indie web/web revival and cool websites. (:
Well, I had a YouTube channel, and even though I liked filming videos, blogging is so much better and more comfortable for me. One of the many existing problems with social media is this constant chase for the “trending” platform. Facebook used to be the biggest platform years ago, but now no one cares about it. YouTube and Instagram are also losing ground to TikTok. Having your personal website may not be the most popular option, but at least your content is 100% yours and it will not disappear if the current social media ends.
Your blog is lovely and it really shows how much love you put into it. Since both you and I run self-hosted websites, we don’t have such a thing as the Neocities “featured sites” to help with visibility, but you can always check some cliques, webrings, or exchange links with people! I’m also a beginner at these things, but I hope it was helpful. <3
What a great post! I actually cant remember how I made it into the world of the indie web/web revival. It was not even long ago but I cant recall lol… But what I was really looking for was a place to put my art. I had a deviant art for a long time but it changed so much it wasn’t recognizable and lost all its charm. In uni I moved on to posting art on insta and I have never felt more worthless as an artist ever. Everything was about likes and if you got less than someone else you got a festering insecurity, like why am I not getting as much attention? Is it because I’m worse? Even worse would be the very toxic and comparative jealousy, (i.e. my art is way better, why is this other person’s art who is worse getting more likes??? etc.). At one point it just pissed me off bad and I abandoned insta. Somehow I found my way to neocities and a logical conclusion to where I should keep my art: my own website! The start was rough but I actually took the time to learn things and realized I really love CSS lol. About blogs in particular, I was in a bit of a similar place like you. During uni I got a special scholarship that required me to keep a blog. I had to read all this stuff about how often you should blog, all the SEO stuff, etc. It made me so depressed. The blankness of a WordPress blog and all. Actually just this summer I decided to check out blogger/blogspot which is what I remember using once for a school project when I was like 10 or 11. Turns out it has wild customization options, you can just do what ever to the HTML! So I’ve been blogging there now, it’s pretty rough but it’s all my own. Which is something!