Is Somewhere Good the Future of Social Media?

In one of our early tests, we had a “weekend mode.” That meant that the app was not available on the weekend, and instead there was a screen that told users “we are not here. Enjoy your experience outside of this app.”

We're also thinking about what the potentials are in an online platform that is thinking about IRL connection as well.

We believe Somewhere Good can support people in connecting with more intention and tenderness, and the ways that we can encourage people to learn, archive, and connect to one another as sources of knowledge.

Our first values are rooted in deepening connection, and in honoring and supporting Black expression. Oral tradition is deeply rooted in Blackness. There’s a certain vulnerability in audio, and we wanted to explore that intimacy. There is a deepened connection to our selfhood with voice. There is a nuance that voice captures that often isn’t found ... See more

I was thinking about what joy looks like to me on the internet, and I was brought back to earlier conceptions of playful online spaces: Neopets, Club Penguin, Microsoft Paint, those early chaotic days of MySpace, customized Tumblr blogs. When I think about the design of social-media apps today, it’s very clean and very minimalist, lending itself to... See more

What would it look like to have an online platform that is about meaningful connection, that is also about putting marginalized people first and not treating them as an afterthought?

We wanted to explore what it would look like if we created a social-media platform that moves against hierarchy and making people into brands. What care and safety mean when creating online connections that feel more tender and meaningful and not so transactional and extractive. And we’re thinking about citation, ensuring that creators and people o... See more

“Everything worthwhile is done with other people.” I really stand by that. One of the bravest and most revolutionary things we can do is care for one another.

Interdependence offered a route that honored the care of the self alongside the care of others and showed how those two are actually in loving relationship.