Post text, images, and videos
Users can like or reply to posts publicly or privately
Friend-based - add friends via contacts only
Chronological feed - no algorithms, ever
Metric-free, i.e. there are no visible public numbers on the platform
Nothing more, nothing less.
Build something new because you think it would be cool. Build something new because you want it for yourself. There doesn't need to be any other reason.
In the future people will go to Elsewhere to keep up with their friends lives and they will go to social media (Instagram, X, Facebook, etc.) to keep up other peoples lives.
"The other thing you need is a willingness to break rules. Paradoxical as it sounds, if you want to fix your model of the world, it helps to be the sort of person who's comfortable breaking rules. From the point of view of the old model, which everyone including you initially shares, the new model usually breaks at least implicit rules."
Breaking the rules. The current rule being that in order for social to work, its users need public validation. We are challenging this notion by taking all outward forms of validation and bringing them inward; making them private. Snapchat was a perfect example of this. Knowingly or unknowingly they broke the rule — they created stories. Stories is the greatest social media feature ever created. Why? Interacting with a story was completely private - you never saw a like or reply count. And because of that people started sharing their authentic lives again. Elsewhere is bringing that feeling back and putting it in a chronological feed.
Go through your contacts. Add the people who you care about. Start posting.
Seven out of 10 heavy social media users, 71%, reported feelings of loneliness.
"Indeed, if you think about it, a good new idea has to seem bad to most people, or someone would have already explored it. So what you're looking for is ideas that seem crazy, but the right kind of crazy."
There are instant messaging apps (iMessage, GroupMe, WhatsApp, Signal, Messenger) and there are social media apps (Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, X). We stand at the crossroads of these two paradigms — Elsewhere is a social messaging platform.
Elsewhere is one big group chat.
"Having new ideas is a strange game, because it usually consists of seeing things that were right under your nose. Once you've seen a new idea, it tends to seem obvious. Why did no one think of this before?"
Strip social media down to its essence, then rebuild it.
Build a platform for the introverts and the extroverts.
Look up how many people have social media and how often they post on each platform.
- 72% of Americans use at least one social network.
- According to a study published in the "Information, Communication & Society" journal, about 5% of Twitter users were responsible for 75% of the content produced on the platform. On platforms like Instagram and Facebook, a similar pattern likely exists, with a relatively small group of active users creating a large portion of the content, while the majority primarily consume this content.
- These figures are used to illustrate the concept of participation inequality, also known as the 1%-9%-90% rule or the 90-9-1 principle, which is a common pattern in social networks. This principle suggests that around 1% of users are heavy content creators, 9% of users contribute occasionally, and 90% are lurkers who consume content but don't contribute.
Post for yourself, not for others.
If X is the public square, Elsewhere is the private one.
"Easier to do a hard startup than an easy startup."
Hit the reset button on social media.
To Jonathan Haidt: The goal is not to get people off of social media, the goal is to provide a viable alternative.
Build a strong community. Start with colleges.
If you're addicted to social media, it's not your fault. TikTok, Facebook & Instagram spend billions each year to keep you hooked.
Book generation, radio generation, television generation, computer generation, social media generation. Our parents are apart of the television generation. 45 year olds are apart of the computer generation. We are all apart of the social media generation.
There will be a tremendous push towards healthier ways to connect online.
The new Facebook.
Ask yourself how you feel after you spend some time on social media. Really ask yourself.
We have an idea, a product, and a team. Now we must execute.
On Elsewhere, you can have 5 friends or 10 or 20 or 80. It doesn't matter.
Think of it as iMessage on steroids. Replace that search bar on iMessage with a status bar.
This is not Facebook. This is not Instagram. This is not TikTok. Elsewhere is about making a statement. By joining this platform, you are giving the middle finger to the current social media dynamics, inflicted upon us for far too long. You are saying: No more numbers. No more influencers. No more dances. This is rejection. We will no longer be slaves to their algorithms. This is for the future of our youth. This is about connection. The way social was always meant to be. This is somewhere else. This is Elsewhere.
Elsewhere is an homage to the past.
Imagine a world where you can go on someones profile and see what they are really about. What they really believe. How they really feel.
Elsewhere is the proverbial reset button for social media. We must start from scratch. Free from influencers and conformity. We must be our individual selves once again.
"This is what I want. This is how I want to share my life."
If you want to post whatever you want, whenever you want, this platform is for you.
If you want to look back on your life one day and know that what you posted was the most genuine side of yourself, this platform is for you.
If you want your future ancestors to learn about who you are and what you truly believed in, this platform is for you.
We are going after Instagram, not TikTok. TikTok is unstoppable.
Social media in its current form is the single most damaging piece of technology facing society today. Social media has become a place that breeds narcissism, self-comparison, envy, and addiction. It sells you bullshit, sucks the life out of you, rips your heart out, and prevents you from doing the things you love.
The Social Media Industrial Complex
So what happens if we don't solve this now?
The online social world will continue down the path it is on now. The negative trend lines will continue to grow and the apps will continue to get worse — they will continue to promote addiction and narcissism, because at the end of the day all these companies care about is keeping you scrolling and their bottom line.
Does TikTok and Instagram keep growing? If so what does that mean? Why should we be bothered by it in the first place? Are the dances really that bad? Is scrolling for hours really that bad? At the end of the day its the individuals choice. But we need be doing ourselves a major disservice if we didn't at least try to provide an alternative solution.
Elsewhere will at the very least be a catalyst for change.
Instagram: 169.65 million in USA
Tiktok: 107.8 million in USA
Elsewhere: 0 in USA
We started Elsewhere because we know how amazing social media can be. We know, because we experienced it. We remember logging on to AIM after school and we remember signing up for MySpace. We also remember the early days of Facebook and the early days of Instagram. Back then, social media was pure and its purpose was simple: It was an incredible way to stay connected with the daily lives of our friends and family. It was really a lot of fun.
Over time social media became a place that connected you with people outside of our friends and family and it did so on a massive scale; something that humans had never experienced before. Fast forward to today and we can definitively say that things (society and human behavior) started to break down.
You see, as much as we want to believe that humans can handle this level of connection on a mass scale, they simply cannot. They never have and they don't need to and they shouldn't be forced to. Force is a strong word here, but it is the unfortunate truth. The most used social networks that exist today are intent on keeping you connected with people outside of your friends and family. You log on to Instagram, X, TikTok, or Facebook and the first thing you see are posts from people you have never met before - strangers. This is wrong.
And holy shit, I guess this is what we believe right? Humans should not be forced to stay connected with people outside of their community. Why? Because a strong sense of community is deeply woven into our DNA and when when that structure begins to break, society and individuals break with it. The purpose of Elsewhere is to help prevent that structure from breaking. The purpose of Elsewhere is to connect and reconnect you with your community - the people that you know and care about in real life.