A new wave of social media apps offers hope in a devastated world

Zahra Naqvi remembers the magical days of the early social internet.

She grew up in the One Direction and Marvel fandom in the early 2010s. This was back when people posted photos of lattes using the Valencia filter on Instagram, and Twitter was still Twitter, a place where people came together to exchange jokes and cultural analysis.

But now Instagram is full of influencers, and Twitter is X, a digital town hall with fierce political divisions.

“The platforms that won were the ones that kept people scrolling the longest, not the ones that made them feel the most engaged,” Naqvi told TechCrunch. “Now there is an abundance of content but a dearth of joy.”

But that has started to change. Naqvi is part of the new wave of social media: interest-first, niche online communities. This month, he announced the launch of his company, Knowledge– A site that helps fans stay connected with their fans.

He believes users increasingly want to spend less time on generalized sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and instead join online communities tailored to their interests.

Natalie Dillon, a consumer investor at venture firm Maveron, says she’s starting to see a growing number of founders creating interest-first networks.

“At its core, consumer behavior is driving a shift from performance to participation,” Dillon told TechCrunch. “For the next generation, community is not a feature layered on top of a product. It is the product.”

She exemplifies bellyAn app that lets users share their favorite restaurants with friends, or Fizz, which connects people who go to the same college. Others include Jyotish-Bandhan App co-staror even partialWhich lets people connect with friends to plan events.

These are the kinds of interactive apps Naqvi wants to create – something akin to what the early social Internet was like before it became “fragmented and joyless”.

“Niches allow people to be unique and show themselves as a whole without getting lost in the algorithm,” he said.

He further said, the previous generation of social media companies found success through “more”; More followers, more reach, more noise. But some founders and users are now coming to a different conclusion — maybe there’s no social media app that will become “the next big thing.” There will be many.

Maybe this is the point.

“What we have learned is that depth matters more than breadth,” Naqvi said.

Exclusive online communities are expanding

Of course, subreddits, Discord servers, and private groups like Facebook communities have always existed. On X, following multiple similar accounts was also a way to enter a different online sphere: think tech Twitter or black Twitter.

But the algorithms of the big sites select the content for users and serve them the content they think they want to see. Content creators are also not innocent, they create and promote trends, topics and discussions – anything that can spark fame and a steady eye on their work.

“We have reached saturation point,” Naqvi said. “Everyone is tired of doomscrolling and performative content.”

In other words, the days of building large, generalized sites like Facebook are over, according to Claire Wardle, an associate professor at Cornell University who studies the contemporary information ecosystem.

Wardle said users have become increasingly concerned about how much time they spend online, content moderation, hyper-political spaces and the permanence of social media posts.

Naturally, there are some obvious exceptions: Beijing-based TikTok, which has seen a huge surge in popularity in recent years, was briefly outlawed in the US because the government was concerned about the scale of its potential impact. Even Facebook’s Threads has over 400 million active monthly users as of this month.

But the roots of all this have become the “last generation” of social media. Wardley, in particular, called TikTok a “broadcast-style” site.

Recently closed social media website Why? “For the few people who like the spotlight, it works,” says Maya Watson, founder of . Said. She is now quietly working on another app. “Most people didn’t sign up to be creators; we just wanted community.”

Alfonzo Terrell’s social network Spill has seen great success with its focus on community.

The spill became a refuge for Black Ax users who fled in the wake of the growing insurgency. Terrell said Spill has shifted its design from simply feeding users content to matching them with communities that might be of interest to them.

For example, people who like to watch the WNBA can join a group specifically for that. Spill also features games like Spades – a staple in the Black community – and has partnered with Netflix, Amazon and Paramount to host co-viewing events called “Tea Parties,” in which users can watch movies and sports together on the app.

“The next era of social media is not about having the biggest follower count,” Terrell told TechCrunch. “It’s about depth; helping people find their people.”

Many black users also fled blackskyFounded by Rudy Fraser. With BlackSky, he is building an open-source network on the same protocol and distribution network as BlueSky.

BlueSky’s user base is currently close to 40 millionAccording to an online user tracker built with the BlueSky API. Wardle described the social network as representative of how online communities are looking for content that aligns with their political interests, given Bluesky’s leftist leanings.

But Blacksky takes it a step further.

It targets minorities and marginalized individuals and has an algorithm that can filter out racial harassment. Unlike

“Sometimes you need a global platform. Sometimes you want a cozy corner with close Internet friends, where you can control who sees what,” Fraser told TechCrunch.

Users own their data and can decide to host such information on BlackSky rather than BlueSky, giving them control over who has access to their content.

People also vote together on decisions, Fraser said, such as what the community guidelines should be and whether non-Black users should be allowed to post in the community.

“Until now, people have had to choose, whether consciously or otherwise, between the jank of fiduciaries or closed platforms where they have no control,” Fraser said. (Fediverse is another network of open social web services built on a different protocol, ActivityPub.)

“We’re demonstrating with the AT protocol that you can have a great user experience, have a great time on the Internet again, and have real autonomy the whole time,” Fraser said.

Investors are also following other trends

Artificial intelligence is playing a huge role in helping to build more distinct social communities.

Austin Clements, managing partner at Slauson & Company, is seeing founders use AI to create apps that understand nuances so well, they move beyond typical social networks into tailored experiences.

“New apps are fundamentally built for that region, which enables them to create the tools and features that are most relevant to that region,” he told TechCrunch. “In fact, new applications usually go further with tools and call the social part ‘community.'”

Naqvi’s product has AI tools, although he is tight-lipped on further details. Its product is a search engine that lets people navigate the Internet. It provides an interactive experience combining fan theories, cultural references, and Easter eggs; It creates personalized graphs, reveals fandom updates, and gives users monthly reports on their obsessions.

“One of our early testers said it best: ‘It’s like Wikipedia – but if Wikipedia knew exactly what I was thinking,'” he said, adding that his users call him “Mother Lore.”

Emily Herrera, a consumer investor who works at Slow Ventures, said creators like Naqvi are now in the front seat of this new social media ecosystem. He cited newsletters as an example of this trend, saying creators are moving away from participating in the “broadcast” ecosystem to creating environments in which they act as owners.

Dani Tran, principal at Bitcraft Ventures, said she sees further growth of “niche passion communities” in gaming. superbloomFor example, a gaming studio that targets an underrepresented audience.

“Looking ahead, the most vibrant social communities will be those built around interactive experiences,” he said.

Maveron’s Dillon added to this. “The winners will be the platforms that combine intimacy, utility and creativity in one ecosystem,” he said. “They won’t look like traditional social networks; they’ll feel like multiplayer environments where people can build, buy, and build their own everything at once.”

Or, as Naqvi put it: People “want tools that help them remember why being online was fun in the first place.”