Your Content Platform is Dying - Here's Where to Go Next

_{Day 55/100}

Hey - It's Tim.

You ever walk into a room you used to love…
and feel nothing?

That’s Instagram now.
That’s Threads now.

It’s like visiting your childhood home.
Everything’s smaller.
Quieter.
Lonelier.

Not because you changed.
But because the life left the room.

Instagram: Once The Party, Now The Museum

Instagram used to be the place.

I remember when posting a grid photo felt like rolling a grenade into the group chat.

Now?

It feels like whispering into a well.

Here’s what happened:

Instagram squeezed every last drop of joy out of the app.
Every corner got optimised.
Every view got monetized.
Every moment got sponsored.

And when you do that?

People don’t leave immediately.
They linger.

Quiet quitting the platform.

Engagement drops.
Stories slow down.
Creators stop caring.

What Do You Do When The Party’s Over?

You stop trying to fix the room.

You find a new one.
Or better yet — you build your own.

This is why newsletters feel alive right now.
This is why Discord feels like a secret hideout.
This is why private communities don’t need to "go viral" — they need to feel like home.

If you’re still treating Instagram like your forever home, you’re making a mistake.

It's an AirBnB now.

Stay the night.
Don’t get too comfortable.
Pack light.

Threads: The App That Forgot To Matter

Threads was supposed to save us.

It launched like a rocket.

100 million signups in five days.

But no gravity.
No pull.
No reason to stay.

People left like they forgot why they walked into a room.

Because speed doesn’t build community.
Identity does.

And Threads never gave people an identity.

It was quiet.
Polite.
Brand-safe to the point of being brand-forgettable.

But Wait... Aren’t These Platforms Growing?

Despite everything we’ve just said — Threads just passed 320 million monthly active users.
That’s massive.

On paper, it’s thriving.

In real life?

It feels like:

Same goes for Instagram.

It’s not dead.
It’s just shifted.

The winners aren’t brands anymore.
They’re people.

Creators.
Characters.
Founders who post like they’re texting a friend — not presenting to shareholders.

Instagram still works.
Just not for the ones trying to sound like a social media manager from 2018.

It’s not about reach.
It’s about recognition.

And you only get that by sounding human.

So Where Do You Go?

Wherever feels weird.
Wherever feels small.
Wherever people are still being people.

The platforms that survive this next cycle?

→ They’ll look more like group chats.
→ They’ll sound more like inside jokes.
→ They’ll feel more like forums than feeds.

That’s why I’m writing here.

That’s why I’m building this newsletter like a little corner of the internet nobody else owns.

✌️ Tim "POV: You're a Dying Platform" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

PS.

I’ve been thinking about building a dumb little reward system.

If you forward this newsletter to a few friends — I want to send you something stupid and personal.

Maybe it’s bonus content.
Maybe it’s a secret Discord.
Maybe it’s me mailing you a print-out of my worst performing email just to prove I’m human.

Reply and let me know if you’d be into it.

We'll build this thing the way good internet used to feel.

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