Why do we all feel so bad about our current social media environment? My guess is you probably know, even without ever having articulated it. In 2025, all ideas of social "sharing" or "networking" seem to have been thrown out the window along with Drake's street cred, vast swaths of the US Constitution, and any goodwill Elon Musk may have once had.
Zuck, Musk, Bezos... One thing's for sure, they not like us.
The worst grocery store in the world
Today's online experience feels about the same as if we went into the supermarket and just saw a row of chips, a row of soda, a row of chips and soda, then a row of ice cream before you get to the chips-and-soda display by the register. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok: they're all designed to be mental junk food, grabbing us by the amygdala and never letting go.
And they’ve done such a good job of it - sinking billions into manipulating our psyches - that it’s no surprise we’re stuck feeling helpless, addicted, knowing we’d like to live differently but feeling like there’s no way out.
We need choices
Sunslider is one way out. Not the way out: Sunslider isn't going to be everything to everyone, it's not supposed to be. We want to be the positive social network where you spend a few minutes checking in on friends and family, maybe look at some nice posts from around the world, and then… put your phone down and go back to the things that are really important.
And yes, it’s possible. The current version of Sunslider (still iOS only for the moment; v2.0 for both iOS and Android will be released in the coming weeks) is stable and provides a significant amount of what users need:
post photos and videos including comments/discussions and user tags,
functional privacy levels that let you choose exactly who sees what,
a dual-feed system that puts your friends and family first,
all of Sunslider’s user-centered values: minimal data tracking, no ads, EU data sovereignty, and, of course, no nazis.
And for the things that you want, but we don't have yet? Just tell me what they are: khall [at] sunslider.social. I promise, you'll get a response and we'll take them into account.
A different world is in your hands
So, the app's up and running, where's the problem? Let's be real: It is hard to get a new social network up and running, and the conventional wisdom is that it takes tons of money. But if that's true, and if that money comes from venture capital - a startup's traditional source of early-stage funding -, we're going to end up right back where we started, because the structure of those fundraising agreements almost always puts investors' needs first. Tons of VC cash and a shareholders-only attitude is precisely what's led to social media's current state of affairs.
That means we have to find other ways, ones that are less reliant on money and more reliant on, well, a bit of faith. As an organization, we need to have faith that you, the user, the person who reads this blog and agrees with it, will take 30 seconds to sign up and join us. As a user, you have to believe in us, that we'll live up to these standards. And we promise, there are some big changes coming in Sunslider v2.0 that will give further proof that we’re building something fundamentally different from today's social media giants.
For now, though, we need you to believe and spread the word.
If you’re already signed up, great - send the link to three of your friends. If you’re not signed up, do that! And then send the link to three of your friends.