2023 Wrap-Up: The Year Alternative Platforms Took Off

Hey everyone! Just wanted to share some thoughts on what an incredible year 2023 has been for alternative platforms and indie creators. OwnCast Had a Breakthrough Year The 0.1.0 update was honestly a game changer. We got appearance customization (no more needing to know CSS!), custom emoji, chat colors, and external action buttons. Plus they removed Twitter integration since, well, we all know how that's going. The latest 0.1.2 version even added chat user leave events and better IP logging. PeerTube 6.0 Dropped Some Amazing Features Password protected videos, video storyboards, and the ability to REPLACE video files without losing your URL (something YouTube only gives Partner Program members). Video chapters and a much better player too. It's becoming a real YouTube alternative. The Great Migration Continues More people are fleeing X/Twitter for Mastodon and BlueSky. I personally ditched Threads when they started demanding phone numbers. The Fediverse is growing but we need to be patient with newcomers who are used to algorithmic feeds. Twitch is Struggling They want streamers running 7 minutes of ads per hour now. That's insane for live content! No wonder people are moving to OwnCast, LiveSpace, and SharePlay. I've basically stopped using Twitch entirely. Why This Matters We're seeing a real shift toward creator ownership. Whether it's hosting your own OwnCast server, uploading to PeerTube instances like TILVids, or just building your own website, indie creators are taking back control. The software is free and open source. You just need hosting (Hetzner, DigitalOcean, etc.) or your own hardware. No more being at the mercy of corporate algorithm changes or arbitrary monetization rules. Looking Forward 2024 is going to be huge for alternative platforms. More people are waking up to the benefits of decentralized, creator-owned content distribution. If you're interested in OwnCast, join the rocket.chat community and check out directory.owncast.online to see live streams. For broader indie creator discussions, visit thisindiecreator.com. The future is federated, and it's looking bright! 🚀" class="emoji" data-type="emoji" data-name=":rocket:" alt="🚀" draggable="false" src="https://discord.com/assets/2a419df364f6817c.svg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; height: var(--custom-emoji-size-emoji); object-fit: contain; width: var(--custom-emoji-size-emoji); text-indent: -9999px;"> What platforms are you most excited about for 2024?