I want to talk about the structure of modern internet and how it relates to "People who have something to say". That's a pretty broad definition, but I think it conveys what I mean. One might even call those people "Content creators" but I think that term has baggage that I want to avoid. What I'm talking about are people who have highly developed opinions about something, and want to share those opinions with others. They might be life experiences, or philosophical positions, or opinions on niche (or not so niche) topics. Those are the people that I am addressing in this post. If you have nothing interesting to share online and just respond to others, or don't interact with people at all, then this isn't for you.
Here's my thesis statement: it is a bad idea to host your thoughts on social media, and instead it would be better to move them to your own website.
The biggest problem with hosting your thoughts on social media is that you do not control the platform. Every problem that I outline here will come back to this one overarching fact. If you use Twitter or Facebook or Reddit as a host for what you want to say, then your thoughts are at their mercy as to what they want to do with it. That's fairly obvious, I think, but the ramifications of that are less obvious.
For one thing, you are relying on that website to stay viable. You have to contend with the fact that the internet landscape may shift and leave you behind, as was the case of Myspace. It may get shut down externally, as was the case of 8Chan. That website may close down on their own for a variety of reasons, such as the forums of bodybuilding.com. A community that started as a forum somewhere may close down and move to Discord, or may start on Discord entirely, leaving you with no good place to post your opinions except as they relate to a specific conversation. What I'm saying is that if you want a place to post your thoughts in a concrete, easily-referenced place, then social media is not a great place to do it because it can change so drastically.
There are other problems too. Perhaps the website remains in the cultural mind and people will continue to use it into the far future. There's nothing stopping that website from becoming worse. Twitter is a good example. Since it was bought out and rebranded, it has become worse. The UI has become harder to use. It has become harder to engage with unless you have an account, usually blocking you until you sign in. It's full of bots and spam. Plenty of people still use Twitter, but it's not nearly as good as it used to be, and there's nothing stopping it from getting worse in the future. Reddit is another good example. The UI was changed drastically, and made much worse. Third party applications to access it on phones are no longer viable unless you pay a subscription for the API access costs. It's filled with bots. It's still there, but it's worse.
But fine, let's say that the social media you've chosen A) stays relevant and B) doesn't get worse. You're still at their mercy because they can remove what you say. Your posts can be deleted, and you can be banned. You have no guarantee that your thoughts will stay up, and if you have fringe or controversial opinions, you can easily be shut down. Even if you only post opinions that are (((kosher))) today, they might not be acceptable a year or five years from now. You have no guarantees.
One final problem is anonymity. For some bizarre reason, it's become completely acceptable to identify yourself personally. People give out their name freely, along with pictures of themselves, where they work, where they live, and so on. Even if you use a pseudonym, Facebook and Twitter both ask for your actual ID in certain cases. You are not anonymous, and that can pose a substantial risk if you challenge the status quo. Even if you don't identify yourself to the website, information such as your email address can be leaked, or sold for profit by these companies.
We need a better system.
The solution is simple: Host your content yourself. This solves all of the previous problems outlined. Your website will stand the test of time because it's set in stone. Until there is a major paradigm shift in what technologies we use to access the internet, your website will always be accessible. It will always be active as long as you are active. It will always be freely available because there will never be artifical barriers preventing others from seeing it. You don't have to rely on another website to keep going, because you yourself will keep going. Because you are in total control of the website, you control the UI, and can ensure that it is always clean and easy to use. You can't get banned from your own website either, which means you can always post what you want to say. You can't be shut down by external sources unless you are hosting actual illegal content. I can say NIGGER or FAGGOT or KIKE in all caps, and know that those words will still be here as long as I want them to be. Additionally, I am completely anonymous to the average person. Leonard Fischer is not my real name, and it would take court subpoenas to establish my real identity. Very useful if you're saying controversial things.
Another benefit is that the "difficulty" of hosting your own website acts as a filter. The only people who will go through the process of setting up a website are people who strongly believe in what they're saying. The content on a person's own website will always be of higher quality than the average social media platform. When there's a barrier to being able to speak, the remaining speech will be better.
The biggest problem to this solution is, and will always be, making others aware of your content. The only way you can really advertise is through word of mouth. That system does have its benefits, but it will never be able to reach the wider audience that a social media account can catch. My solution therefore is to keep your social media accounts. Post hot takes there, engage with people, build notoriety through spoonfeeding people publically. Then, direct them to your website, where the real meat of what you're saying is located.
If I've convinced you of this position, then I am asking you to take action. If you have something to say, then make your own website. I have a guide right here on how to do it, it's actually fairly easy. Even if you aren't technologically adept, if you can use social media then you can get through the work to get your own website. Furthermore, I'd ask that you spread the word on this idea. Tell other people why you moved to your own website. Link them this page if you like, although don't take that as a command or anything. The more people who do this, the better the internet will become, even if it's only by a little bit.
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