Social Media Platforms I Used And Left

Social media has become a dominant part of our lives. There are some platforms that we use for either our entire life, or we find a site/app that is even better, or we realize we don’t need it at all and ditch it completely.

The very first time I started social networking was when I was 16, I used a little thing called MSN where I could DM friends and they had spaces back then that made me start blogging until that platform was shut down.

Then when I turned 17, I really started branching out to growing and popular social networking sites. As of this year, Facebook is the only original platform I am still on. Yeah, I don’t like what it’s become, but the only reason I am still there is it’s the only way to keep in touch with people in my life, both near and far.

There are many other platforms that I’ve tried and left after a few years. Many long-time readers of this blog might already know why I recently left Twitter and Instagram but for any newcomers, I’ll sum it up for you and include some other places I tried out as well. I’ll be talking about why I joined, and why I left, and mention any site that replaced it.

MSN and Skype

Why I started using it

Back then, this was the only place where you could instant-message people and before that, the only way I communicated with friends online was by email, so I wanted something that was instant. One of my friends I was close with at that time, and we would schedule chat sessions on here, coordinating via email and then talk for hours on MSN. Those were the days. I added more people over time and I never used a profile picture of myself, hell, it was always Optimus or some other character. I never even used my name!

So some people on there didn’t know who I was, those were good times but I loved the selection of emoticons and winks they had. Nudges were also a good way to ask if someone was still there or find out if they were AFK and didn’t say so. I also chatted with people on Skype too, even through a video chat with someone as well, but I don’t know, it just didn’t have the same feel to it.

Why I left

For the same reason, everyone else did, it was basically discontinued. I do miss it sometimes, a lot of DMs don’t have the same customization features. If it was still around, I would have kept using it.

The alternative

I could say Facebook has replaced this but I think the real replacement for me is Discord because it’s an IM place I can use without opening my browser and it has a ton of cool features where I can let people know what games I’m playing and even stream them in my own server, which I would rather do than on Twitch! Discord is addictive and it gives me a lot of nostalgic feelings like I’m on MSN again, but for a lot of gamers.

Twitter

Why I started using it

Twitter was the first official social-networking site that I joined and I liked how I could just tweet whatever I liked, any random thought that popped into my head. I also like how many years ago, there used to be more options to customize your page like even having a background rather than just a header. I used it for a long time and got carried away, it was like I could get away with saying some things that I would never say on Facebook. I felt like I could be myself there.

Why I left

The first time I left was when I got tired of dealing with harassment and I got too aggressive on there, especially during the college faculty strike of late 2017, I was not in a good mental state and had to quit for my own good.

I returned sometime later only to promote my blog and stay anonymous, but it wasn’t the same now that Instagram was the most popular. Then when Elon Musk acquired the place, I at first didn’t feel too affected. However, as the time when by and I saw it was becoming even worse under his ownership, I decided it was time to leave for good. I didn’t want to stay in a place that was going to enable harassment, force users to pay a subscription fee to keep verification or edit tweets, and some other awful things Musk had planned.

I was also sick of seeing too much political shit there as well. I had to mute more than twenty people just to stop seeing anything related to Donald Trump on my feed.

The alternative

The moment I left Twitter for good, I went to a place called Mastodon which offers users more control over their privacy and their accounts can be on a server of any kind. There is also a 500-character limit rather than 140 which is pretty sweet.

There may not be any celebrities on there but over time, I’ve learned to live without always being up to date with those kinds of people.

I also find it easier to engage with people there, people are just nicer there too.

Tumblr

Why I started using it

My friends told me how fun it was and I wanted to check it out for myself. Right away I became addicted to posting, liking, and reblogging everything I loved in all sorts of formats. It was my primary social media I enjoyed booting up the most in the early years of college where I could truly disconnect from drama.

That’s all I remember since it’s been a long time since I’ve used it.

Why I left

I became too addicted and saw it right away. I felt like it was replacing my actual blog where I did writing, and I didn’t want it to. I also realized there was some pretty disturbing content as well.

Some people were sharing pornography which I did not want to see (this was before it was banned from the site) or gory gifs of fingers chopped off or even being ripped in half. It goes to show that some people will show off their tastes explicitly and that just wasn’t for me.

Even if I just unfollowed anyone who did that, there would always be someone else. I also rarely had anything original to post myself, so I decided to leave and go back to my real blog.

The alternative

There’s no particular place I have found that is like Tumblr other than my real blog. I never considered Tumblr to be a blog site. Some of you may disagree with me, but that’s you.

Blogger

Why I started using it

When I wanted to start blogging, I was new to it obviously, so I wanted a place that was easy to use and Blogger was it. It was free to use and also owned by Google, allowing me to have everything under one roof.

The layout was good, and I didn’t have to worry too much about managing other things, so it was good for me as a rookie and hobby blogger at that time.

Why I left

After 6 years, I realized that I needed more to keep my blog going. The problem that I was having with Blogger was that I was not getting much traffic as I anticipated. I would share things in groups but only got weird spammy comments.

The alternative

I had considered moving to word press before, but then I changed my mind and went back to Blogger. I couldn’t figure the place out, and I felt overwhelmed with some of the options available, such as plans you could pay for.

It wasn’t until 2019 did I make the decision to move here for good because I wanted to find my niche and see if my blog would get more traffic. Normally, I don’t really care much about who views my blog. But I still wanted it to grow at some point. I thought I could even turn it into a side gig so here. I am on WordPress and I’m happy here and I’m finding a way to thrive.

I also didn’t want to start my blog over because there were lots of things I had published on the original platform that I had worked very hard on. So I decided to just move my existing content over here and it worked out perfectly.

Instagram

Why I started using it

I found Instagram to be more enjoyable to scroll through and I found it to have less drama than Facebook. I made new friends, saw beautiful things, and it was my go-to place if I was tired of seeing anything negative. Just a mixture of cats, video games, makeup, flowers, all in one package. What could have possibly possessed me to leave? Well, you all know the story now.

Why I left

The first time I left was in 2016 when some sick bastard made a nasty impersonation account. It was silly because it’s not like I was famous or anything but I reported it and it was taken down. I decided to take a break.

I returned to the platform a year later and was smarter with using the app, but even the smartest people in the world can make mistakes. Last year my account got hacked and I was devastated since I never fall for these kinds of scams, but my statement earlier still stands. When I was no longer experiencing sorrow, I was angry that I did everything Instagram told me to do and yet, still, I failed to regain it. I was unwilling to put up with Instagram’s bullshit and lack of support and security and plus I was addicted to the app and didn’t know it until it was too late. Therefore, I pushed Instagram to delete my hacked account and when they did that was my final goodbye.

Aside from that, even if I was never hacked, something still would have pushed me to leave eventually, such as, I didn’t like how they were becoming less about photography and more about videos and reels equivalent to TikTok. They stole things from that app and Snapchat like they were no longer original so yeah that would have also made me leave.

The alternative

I do sometimes miss Instagram but after what’s happened to me there, I don’t want to use a platform with no security system. I mean I know what you’re going to say, every social media platform cares more about features than security! But what made me enjoy Instagram was its focus on photography before that changed.

I managed to get back into my Snapchat account but I don’t really consider it an alternative and I only talk with like, three people there, plus finding people I know is even harder.

Two alternatives that saw were BeReal and Vero. The only thing that concerns me about the former is the fact that it can notify you at any time of the day to post something within a time limit. What if I can’t do that because I’m working, driving or sleeping, and post it late and no one sees it? What if I’m… you know?! Still, I do like how it encourages users to share things filter-free and not just the highlights of their lives so there’s no damage to self-esteem due to FOMO.

Vero, on the other hand, has an Instagram feel to it in terms of the old-school Instagram. It also has a nice layout too and posts will be in chronological order. However, it is only free for a limited time, eventually, they will make people pay for membership which doesn’t seem right. For a time I considered joining one of these two but then I realized I was only doing so to fill the void left behind from my departure from Instagram and I have vowed to live in the moment more going forward.

As you can see, there are plenty of platforms that I have joined and departed from. The only consistent one I’ve had since using the Internet is Facebook. It’s either due to personal reasons, discontinuation of the service, lack of security, or I just found someplace better. Social media is, in a way, never a place where we settle. We will always find something else to replace one platform and another.

👽Emily