Places on the web

I was walking the dog this morning and I was reflecting on how the things we build on the digital world seem to mirror what we build on the physical one. Big social media platforms are the metropolis: dense, busy, chaotic. They’re the place that never sleeps and there’s always something new going on. Something new to see, something new to do. You’ll never be able to catch up with everything and everyone in such a place. There will always be a new YouTube video, a new Tik (?) on TikTok, a new reel on Instagram, and a new tweet on what was once Twitter. Huge cities welcome everyone but they are not for everyone.

There was a time when forums were the cities of the web but now are more like small towns. They’re the place where people congregate around shared interests. Spend enough time on one and you’ll get to know its citizens. New threads are infrequent, discussions are slow and can develop over months and years and it’s the refuge for those who are tired of the busyness of the big cities but still want some sense of belonging to a community.

And then there’re personal sites, the house in the forest. It’s the place people escape to when they’re tired of the noise. However personal sites are not isolated islands. They interact and stay connected, using links, mentions, emails, and RSS. It’s a part of the web that moves at a slower pace and that’s a feature, not a bug.

For some reason, my journey through the web mirrored the one in the real world. I grew up in a city. Then at some point, we moved to a small town and then moved again, to a tiny village. But the dream was—and still is—the house in the forest. I still descend to town ocasionally only to be remembered why that life is not for me. And the same happens on the web. I don’t miss social media. Not one bit. But I love blogging and blogs in general more and more. I love to see how we all have a slightly different take on the same concept. We all want our sites to do different things but we’re all driven by the same desire: to have a place where we feel at home.