Social media alternative for preserving memories

Your memories are in the worst possible place

If someone asked you where your most important memories from the last ten years are stored, the answer would probably be: on my phone, on Instagram, on Facebook, on WhatsApp. Photos of trips, birthdays, a child's birth, family gatherings, moments you never want to forget. But as we explain in our article on what a digital legacy is, there is a fundamental difference between posting memories and preserving them.

Now let us try an exercise. Find a specific photo you posted on Instagram four years ago. Not one from last month. One from four years ago. You will probably spend several minutes scrolling. Or you simply will not find it, because it is buried under thousands of subsequent posts.

Now consider something more unsettling: those platforms where you keep your memories do not belong to you. They are private companies that can change the rules whenever they want, shut down whenever they want, and delete your content whenever they want. And history shows they do.

If you are looking for a social media alternative for preserving memories permanently and without algorithms, this article is for you.

The graveyard of social networks

There is a widely held belief that whatever you upload to the internet stays there forever. It is one of the most dangerous myths of the digital age. The reality is exactly the opposite: digital platforms are among the most ephemeral places that exist.

Let us review recent history.

MySpace was the largest social network in the world in the mid-2000s. At its peak, it had over 100 million users. In 2019, MySpace confirmed that it had lost approximately 50 million songs, photographs, and videos uploaded by users between 2003 and 2015. Twelve years of content, evaporated during a server migration. There was no prior notice. There was no possibility of recovery. It simply vanished.

Google+ was Google's attempt to compete with Facebook. It had millions of users and active communities. In April 2019, Google shut it down. All user-published content, posts, photos, comments, discussions, was deleted. Google provided a download window, but many users did not make it in time. Years of conversations and content disappeared forever.

Vine was a hugely popular short-video platform. It launched the careers of dozens of content creators. In January 2017, it shut down. The videos stopped being accessible. Millions of creations were lost.

Friendster was one of the world's first social networks. At its height, it had over 100 million users, primarily in Southeast Asia. It shut down in 2015. All content vanished.

Hi5 was one of the most popular social networks in Latin America and Southern Europe. It morphed into a gaming platform and was then effectively abandoned. Its users' content became inaccessible.