Why did I build Pine.blog?

The Web Used to be Different. It Used to Put People First.

Not misinformation or hate or algorithms, but people. We deserve that web again and we can make it better than it's ever been.

For years, closed social networks like Facebook and Twitter have been swallowing the web and all of the promises it once held. Writing on the web is now held hostage by the giants of social media. They control what we see, who gets attention, and what businesses succeed or fail.

It doesn't have to be this way. Pine.blog is a small step towards a brighter future for the web.

For the Readers

There's a new, bright future for social media, and Pine.blog is just one piece. Open Social Networks like Pine.blog come in all shapes and sizes, and they can all talk to each other. Whether you're using Pine.blog, Mastodon, Wordpress, Micro.blog or something else, you should be able to talk with, share, and follow everyone else in that network. In this way, Pine.blog uses the Web itself as a Social Network.

With Open Social Networks, users are always in control. If you don't like that a service shows you ads, or charges a fee, or tracks your clicks, you can move to another service that doesn't and you don't have to lose your followers, your timelines, or your posts.

For the Writers

Writing on the Web doesn't have to become like video: trapped on a single platform. Blogs are a great way to share thoughts, reviews, opinions, essays, quick snippets, photos, and more. And blogging was once a world open to anyone. We can take that world back.

Pine.blog makes it easy to start a blog and get started writing on the web on a site you control. No setting up servers or giving all your data to Facebook. On Pine.blog anyone can follow your writing, whether they use Pine.blog or not, and you can reply to, comment on, and like other posts from across the web.

For the Developers

Podcasts have so far avoided the fate of blogs and video and remained true to their roots. In no small way, the openness of the iTunes Podcast directory has had a huge impact on the fate of podcasts as a medium. Apple provides a centralized directory that other users, clients, and services can search freely, all while the shows themselves remain open and decentralized. This is the future of blogging.

Pine.blog's Search Directory has an API that's free to use. Other apps are encouraged to add blog search to their feed reader or blog-based applications and to help promote the open-ness of the Web We Want.

For All

It's time, not only to take back the web from the giants, but to make it better than it's ever been before. We can make a web that works for all of us, that promotes our values, that doesn't spread hate and misinformation, that is good for our society, and that encourages us to be the best we can be.

This is why I build Pine.blog: because this is the web I want, and because it's the one we deserve.

– Brian Schrader