place4pals
Non-profit, open-source social media
What is it?
place4pals is a non-profit, open-source social media app. It started life in React Native and React, and has since been rebuilt as a server-rendered Hono app on AWS Lambda with Aurora DSQL, which made it far cheaper and simpler to keep alive.
Why did you make it?
I’d always been interested in building some sort of social media alternative where the users weren’t the product. I quickly found that running it under a non-profit could help protect users’ interests and privacy, so place4pals became a 501(c)(3). I began developing it in April of 2020 when I was knee-deep in tiresome B2B projects at work. It was my first true hobby project, one where I could dictate the rules and make my own architecture.
Because there’s no commercial interest, I haven’t tended to it as much as I should… but I’m determined to at least keep the service alive, and the rebuild means I can.