I've been on the internet long enough to remember when MySpace was the thing, then Facebook, then Twitter, then Instagram. Each time, people built their entire online presence on someone else's platform, and each time, something changed — the algorithm, the terms of service, the ownership, the vibe — and all that work became worth a little less.

I'm not here to tell you social media is bad. It's a useful tool. But a tool you don't own is a tool that can be taken away.

Here's the thing about your Instagram account, your TikTok, your LinkedIn: you don't own any of it. You're renting space on someone else's platform, building an audience that belongs to them, creating content that lives in their database. If the platform changes its algorithm tomorrow — and it will — your reach changes with it. If the platform goes away — and they do — so does everything you built there.

Your domain name is different. yourname.com is yours. You pay a registration fee, usually around ten or fifteen dollars a year, and that address belongs to you as long as you want it. No algorithm decides who sees it. No company can take it away. And it's not just your website — it's your email address too. hello@yourbusiness.com says something different than yourbusiness@gmail.com. One says you own your presence. The other says you're a guest on someone else's platform.

This is what people mean when they talk about the indie web — the idea that your corner of the internet should be something you own and control, not something you rent from a company whose interests aren't the same as yours.

I think about this a lot when I'm building websites for artists, freelancers, and small businesses. The ones who have been around the longest almost always have the same thing in common: a real website, on their own domain, that they've been tending to for years. Their Instagram following has gone up and down with every algorithm change. Their website just keeps working.

You don't have to abandon social media. Use it to connect, to share, to drive people somewhere. But drive them somewhere you own. Put your best work there. Write there. Show up there. Make it the place that reflects who you actually are — not the version of you that fits in a grid.

Your website should outlast your Instagram account. It can. It just takes a little intention.