For the love of God, make your own website
The article highlights the decline of personal websites due to social media's corporate dominance, advocating for a return to independent websites to reclaim online expression and support free media.
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The article discusses the decline of personal websites and the rise of social media platforms, which have become dominated by corporate interests. The author reflects on the joy of creating personal websites in the past, highlighting how platforms like Geocities and Angelfire allowed for individual expression and creativity. However, the shift to social media has led to a loss of this freedom, as users are now subject to the whims of tech billionaires who control these platforms. The author argues for a return to independent websites, emphasizing the importance of having control over one's online presence and content. This shift is seen as crucial for protecting free expression and creating alternatives to the monopolistic tech ecosystem. The piece concludes with a call to action for individuals to build their own websites and support independent media, thereby reclaiming the internet as a space for personal expression and community.
- The rise of social media has diminished the prevalence of personal websites.
- Users are increasingly subject to the control of tech billionaires on social media platforms.
- There is a growing need for independent websites to protect free expression.
- Building personal websites can empower individuals and foster creativity.
- Supporting independent media is essential for creating alternatives to corporate-controlled platforms.
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4 commentsI feel like what's missing in this discussion is that as much as I hate Facebook and Twitter (X), they enabled people who otherwise would never have been able to participate in the global discussion to have immediate access to do so. There isn't a good way to parlay that ease of use and immediate connection into individual websites. If all of my friends made their own websites tomorrow, I wouldn't visit them all daily like I read their posts on Mastodon.
Maybe the solution is to accept that most people don't need to be posting their opinions out in the ether? Other than here, I rarely post online.
>...
>Unfortunately, this is what all of the internet is right now: social media, owned by large corporations that make changes to them to limit or suppress your speech, in order to make themselves more attractive to advertisers or just pursue their owners’ ends.
twitter emigre were fine with centralization of power, suppression of speech, and appeasement of advertisers just a few years ago, back when Ministry of Trust and Safety commissars were on-call 24x7 to suppress speech they didn't like and summarily unperson the offenders.
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