A private social network (“private” in the sense that is a journaling web app that you share with close friends, not as “e2ee privacy”).

Zero interest on HN or Reddit or wherever. The few people who tried (including friends and family) never came back. The one paid user that I had tried to use the “import Facebook status” tool and it wasn’t working. I didn’t know how to fix (it worked in my machine) so I refunded them.

I used as personal journal for several months but eventually quit. The web app is still up because it’s basically using free tier for hosting, so I leave it there.

Lessons learned

Honestly, idk. Maybe that a new social network these needs a very clear unique spin. Generic “keep in touch with close friends and family” is not enough, any of the big ones can do that. WhatsApp and a closed profile on Instagram deliver that value already. The big ones that tried eventually failed (Path, famously, but also a recent one YC-backed, Coccoon).

”Pay a subscription so we don’t have to sell ads and your data” is not enough of a motivation for adoption.

For those that this would be enough, they also care about e2ee and decentralization (which I didn’t deliver because it was technically hard to do).

Social networks are expected to be on native mobile apps, not web apps, I think.

If anyone likes the UI of it and wants to use the frontend (React) for a web3 or any sort of e2ee backend, get in touch.