streams.place long-term review — daytura, March 13th 2024.
I've been using streams.place near-daily for the past year, and there's a very real chance I'll continue to use it for the next year.
Built by Judah and soulninja, streams.place is a free microblogging service primarily operated through the Telegram chat app (specifically a Telegram bot). It takes your messages and publishes them onto a static webpage, which you can later customize with a few fonts, themes, and layouts. It also burns rubber faster than a pyromaniac.
streams v1 was initially just the Telegram bot and the static webpage, whereas streams v2 now has a web client with a dashboard, a feed, and a drop/post editor, and much-cleaned up theme editor (with presets and just enough customizing!). Theoretically new users could only use Telegram once or twice and then post straight from the webpage dashboard.
I primarily use streams through the mobile Telegram app both for personal reasons. I started using Streams one year ago today, near the end of the beta test, and by v1 rolled around I was dozens of drops in. With so little to the process -- type a message, send a message, see the message -- it becomes a habit. (Of course, maybe I'm not the best example, since I'm a real sucker for journaling in general.)
Nailing that essential functionality ironically means that I can't speak much to the future of streams.place. Judah is thinking of having "the web to become a primary interface, Telegram can be optional". Soulninja has sketched up some paid features. Maybe TPOT will find it a valuable host for their off-beat drafts as Twitter has become more — how should I say this — volatile, under Elon Musk.
Instead I'll speak for today: If you're looking for a place to write more, but without the baggage of social media, streams.place is just that sanctuary. I know it's been one for me.