Social media juggernauts seem invincible until they aren’t. Remember Myspace? Despite controlling the internet for years, Facebook and Twitter now seem more vulnerable than ever, which means there may be an opening for something like Cohost, a new social networking site from the Anti Software Software Company, that harkens back to an earlier, more grassroots internet era. Cohost has many great tools for socializing online, which is made all the better by its lack of a corroding corporate influence. But whether or not it succeeds depends on time and outside factors that are basically beyond its control.  

How to Get Started With Cohost

Currently, Cohost is an invite-only social media network. I had to wait in a queue for a few weeks before being accepted, and I don’t yet have any invites to send to other users. This invite system is unsurprising for a new site. Unlike Clubhouse, Cohost doesn’t feel like it's trying to create a mysterious aura of exclusivity before accepting the general public. The site genuinely doesn’t have the bandwidth yet, and is trying to balance adding new members while not crashing the server (which perhaps explains why pages were a bit slow to load in testing).  

You can only access Cohost through a web browser; there’s no mobile app. Creating your account is straightforward, especially compared with the other potential Twitter rival, Mastodon. Cohost is free, but offers a premium subscription tier called Cohost Plus for $5 per month (or $50 per year). With it, you receive increased file upload limits and other small perks, but more customizations are coming soon. Still, it feels more like a way to support the site, rather than a way to receive any specific bonus like, say, a checkmark. Having a 10MB limit on image uploads gives you more room than the default 5MB limit, but if you're posting a lot online already you're probably used to having to shrink your media.

Posting on Cohost

Cohost’s default design features nice purple accents and a little mascot called Eggbug, but the site is largely beige in a way that makes the content the focus. In general, it feels like Twitter. You follow individual users and see their posts in a strictly chronological main feed. Posts are much more substantial than Twitter's; they lack character limits, which feels more like Tumblr or a proper blogging service. You can even edit posts for free, something that Twitter walls behind its $8-per-month Twitter Blue plan.

As part of its more ethical approach to social media, Cohost obfuscates many of its metrics. You can share posts, like posts, and leave comments. That said, you can’t publicly see a post's likes, or see who and how many people follow another user. Furthermore, Cohost has no ads, no recommendation algorithms, and doesn’t allow cryptocurrency.

Cohost doesn’t just remove features, though; it also has its own ideas. Multiple people can co-own a single page, perhaps to highlight a shared project. It seems much easier to manage than Twitter's coauthored tweets. Cohost's pages can be private, and feature adults-only content. In addition, you can filter content from your feed based on content warnings. Significant new features are also coming soon, including searching for tags, alt text for images, pinned posts, profile color themes, subdomains, RSS syndication, and tipping. 

Will Cohost Replace Twitter?

Cohost is cool and it works. For many products, that’s all you need to know to determine its worth. But social media is a whole other thing. Like dating apps, a social network’s value depends on its community more than its nuts and bolts. Software matters, but ultimately the community is what makes the site what it is. We can’t make any meaningful judgment yet on Cohost’s community because it’s just too premature. Already, Elon Musk’s ongoing Twitter fiasco is causing an exodus of posters who need a new home. They need to go somewhere, and Cohost might be the place. 

But it also might not be, and that matters. If people don’t adopt a social network en masse, it’s hard to see how that doesn’t legitimately hurt its value for the vast majority of potential participants. Some won’t care. To them, part of Cohost's appeal is a romantic nostalgia for the early, underground, communal internet, where everyone had their own GeoCities page. And that’s great! 

However, there’s a reason why that scene got supplanted by these popular mass platforms. They want their friends, enemies, celebrities, politicians, and brands in one convenient place. They want to share their work with the world, and dream of going viral. As Twitter seems ready to collapse, I haven’t been posting more on the unproven Cohost, I’ve been posting more on Instagram and TikTok. It just seems more practical, however cynical that sounds.  Again, it almost feels too soon to even write about Cohost right now. I felt the same way writing about Ello, Somewhere Good, and Vero. How often do you think about them? 

A Good Social Media Host

For better or worse, more and more of our lives are spent online. The digital homes and villages we build for ourselves on social media are valid, which is why it feels so stressful to see them bulldozed by brainless business goons. It reminds us how fragile it can all be. Starting from scratch is hard, because no one wants to invest in a platform with no audience. That said, there’s also little harm in at least keeping an eye on Cohost.org and staking a claim when the opportunity presents itself. Giants can fall, but things on the ground floor can only go up. 

For more on social media drama, learn how to leave Twitter for Mastodon. And check out why billionaires can't save Twitter.