Make Your Own Social Platform!
Using these tools, anyone can build and run their own social networking site — for free!
You might have heard about Amrella. If not, then it is simply my own social media platform. Not exactly ‘made from scratch’ to call it ‘my own’ in terms of acknowledgements, but rather it is ‘my own’ in terms of ownership and maximal rights.
Anyways, today is the day when you will finally break free from the chains of censorship and limitations when using the mainstream platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Quora, Discord, etc.
Pre-2023
Back in October 2020, the first public version of Amrella was launched, which relied on Tribe.so for its features. Between 2021 and 2022, Tribe changed their terms and policies which resulted in Amrella losing its server since Tribe only offered ‘paid’ plans afterwards. (Amrella was running for free all this time)
Here is a surviving video of what Amrella looked like, when it was running on Tribe:
As mentioned above, Tribe sadly removed all its free plans, and as of now, they have also rebranded themselves as Bettermode.
Post-2023
Amrella rose back up from its ashes again, in April 2023 when I discovered Buddyboss, which relies on Wordpress.
Although the Buddyboss theme (Buddyboss Web) is certainly NOT free, I discovered that they do, in fact, allow users to use their plugin (Buddyboss Platform) for free. So I downloaded the plugin and paid for the theme, too. Later I realized that the Buddyboss plugin itself is similar to Buddypress, although much less attractive and polished than Buddyboss.
Before purchasing the Buddyboss theme (which is not mandatory, but recommended), I found another well-made cheaper one, called Vikinger. I bought that one, too.
One again, the paid themes are optional, since all that matters is an installation of Wordpress on a server (web hosting), a domain, and a community plugin (either Buddyboss or Buddypress).
For the hosting, I am using Hostinger, since they provide 100 GB of space at a very cheap pricing if purchased for multiple years (e.g. 2–3 years) during the first time. But, I have also found a free way to run your own social networking platform via Infinityfree, with 5 GB of space per account.
Anyways, here are the two current versions of Amrella, based on:
In case you have ADHD or if your attention span has been rotten down to less than 6 minutes, then here is a summary as a TL;DR:
Build & Run Your Own Social Media Platform:
For an investment
💽 Web hosting: Hostinger (100GB / $35.88 for 1 year)
🌐 Domain: free .com provided with Hostinger ($16.17)
🎨 Theme: Buddyboss ($299.00), Vikinger ($69.00)
🛠️ Plugin: Buddyboss Platform, or Buddypress (provided with Vikinger)
Total: ~$350 per year
For free
💽 Web hosting: Infinityfree (5 GB)
🌐 Domain: free .infinityfreeapp.com with Infinityfree
🎨 Theme: (no suitable free themes found 🙁, but plugins should work with any theme 😄)
🛠️ Plugin: Buddyboss Platform, or Buddypress (can be added via WP Admin)
Total: $0 per year
For extra features, you can add more plugins! Most of them have a free plan, which is decently good enough to keep your own social media site working successfully! Examples: bbPress (forums), Gamipress (points, rewards, levels), BuddyMeet (video meetings), WP Mail SMTP (email notifications), OneAll Social Login (quick authentication and single sign-on), etc.
Alright then, cybersoldier, it is time to revolutionize the internet! Why bother with having your personal information sold by the regular social media giants like Meta, X and others? Why bother limiting yourself to the terms and conditions regulated by their authorities?
You can build them yourself!
