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IndieWeb

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The IndieWeb refers to the usage of decentralized, independently-hosted webites and personal web pages as the main form of connecting on and publishing material on the Internet, in contrast to social media.[1][2][3] The term encompasses the movement advocating it, the web pages that make up, and the community formed around the movement.[3]

The IndieWeb emphasizes autonomy over one’s data, and the ability to use the web without relying on corporations to host one’s data, meaning that web building platforms are excluded.[4][5] Sites are user-centric rather than being optimized for search engines or other metrics, and tend to vary widely as a result.[6] Tools such as Webmention[7][8] and microformats[9] are sometimes used to allow for distributed social communication and distribution of content. A significant portion of the IndieWeb is hosted on static web pages, typically on web hosting services such as Neocities and Nekoweb, or by the user themself.[6]

History

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The IndieWeb movement is directly inspired by how, in the 1990s and 2000s, the early Internet was primarily used by individuals through independent, personal web pages, with openness and decentralization being key.[5] During this time, a specific culture and aesthetic emerged around these sites, referred to by net theorist Olia Lialina as the “vernacular web.”[10] This inspiration is evident in some aspects of the IndieWeb, for example: using the term webmaster to refer to the owner of a site or the use of webrings and links to ‘neighbors’ to connect to other sites in liu of search engines.[11][6]

During the mid-to-late 2000s, the relative accessability of social media sites such as Myspace and Facebook began to replace personal sites, and search engines began to deprioritize independently hosted personal sites.[5] In 2009, GeoCities, the largest static web site hosting service boasting around 38 million pages at its peak, was shut down by Yahoo after just 10 years of being acquired, with sites archived only on Geocities Gallery with broken links and images.[12]

During this period of decline, the concept of IndieWeb was first developed in 2011 at a series of conferences known as IndieWebCamp by Tantek Çelik, Amber Case, Aaron Parecki, Crystal Beasley[13] and Kevin Marks.[14][15][16] On June 28, 2013, Kyle Drake officially launched NeoCities, a self-hosting service with the expressed goal "to rebuild the web we lost to algorithms and monotony, and make it as fun and creative as it was back in the '90s."[17]

The IndieWeb movement has since grown, motivated by factors such as nostalgia, privacy concerns with social media, and dislike for the incorporation of artificial intelligence on the web.[6] However, the competition against social media algorithms, designed to be addictive in nature, and the basic technological knowledge required to run a page is suspected to limit the IndieWeb from replacing social media altogether.[2][3]

Culture and principles

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While the decentralized nature of the IndieWeb means that sites can vary widely, users have formed specific principles, practices, and a common culture in their collective usage of the IndieWeb.[2][18] Examples include POSSE, standing for Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Everywhere, which encourages users to publish content on their own sites then share it on external ones, such as X (social network), Instagram, or Medium (website).[19]

Currently, IndieWeb.org collects these principles, informs users how to get started on the IndieWeb, and as of 2026, has organized two-day IndieWebCamp events in 19 cities,[20] as well as online.[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "IndieWeb". indieweb.org. Retrieved 2026-04-14.
  2. 1 2 3 Jamieson, Jack; Sikri, Kanishka (2022). Sikri, Kanishka (ed.). "Depending on Other in the IndieWeb: Navigating Holistic and Prescriptive Building in a Decentralized Social Network". What Would Ursula Franklin Say. doi:10.17613/Z0QP-3487.
  3. 1 2 3 Newport, Cal (2019-05-18). "Can "Indie" Social Media Save Us?". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2026-03-22.
  4. ↑ Finley, Klint. "Meet the Hackers Who Want to Jailbreak the Internet". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2026-04-14.
  5. 1 2 3 Villar-Onrubia (Daniel); Marín (Victoria) (2022-04-26). "Independently-hosted web publishing". policyreview.info. Retrieved 2026-04-14.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Bonifield, Stevie (2025-11-30). "The indie web is here to make the internet weird again". The Verge. Retrieved 2026-03-22.
  7. ↑ Aldrich, Chris. "Webmentions: Enabling Better Communication on the Internet". A List Apart. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  8. ↑ Reece, Manton. "Webmention". Indie Microblogging (book). Manton Reece. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  9. ↑ Reece, Manton. "Microformats". Indie Microblogging (book). Manton Reece. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  10. ↑ Lialina, Olia (2005). "The vernacular web". A Minima. 11: 158–187.
  11. ↑ Casey, Carol (1998-11-01). "Web rings: An alternative to search engines". College & Research Libraries News. 59 (10): 761–763. doi:10.5860/crln.59.10.761. ISSN 2150-6698.
  12. ↑ Jackson, Gita (2020-01-27). "The Geocities Archive Is Bringing the Early Internet to Life". VICE. Retrieved 2026-04-22.
  13. ↑ "Founders". IndieWebCamp. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  14. ↑ Ben Werdmuller: The IndieWeb as a minimally viable social web ecosystem W3C, 2013
  15. ↑ Klint Finley: Meet the Hackers Who Want to Jailbreak the Internet Wired, 2013
  16. ↑ Dan Gillmor: Welcome to the Indie Web Movement Slate, 2014
  17. ↑ "Neocities". neocities.org. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
  18. ↑ Jamieson, Jack. Independent together: Building and maintaining values in a distributed web infrastructure. University of Toronto (Canada), 2021.
  19. ↑ Pierce, David (October 23 2023). "The poster's guide to the internet of the future". theverge.com. Retrieved July 22 2026. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ↑ "IndieWebCamps". IndieWeb. 2013-11-03. Retrieved 2026-04-14.
  21. ↑ "2020/Online". IndieWeb. 2020-02-08. Retrieved 2026-04-14.
  22. Reece, Manton. "IndieWeb". Indie Microblogging (book). Manton Reece. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  23. Çelik, Tantek; Case, Amber; Parecki, Aaron; Beasley, Crystal; Marks, Kevin. "IndieWeb: Key Principles". indieweb.org. IndieWeb. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  24. Reece, Manton. "Owning your content". Indie Microblogging (book). Manton Reece. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  25. Reece, Manton. "Building Blocks". Indie Microblogging (book). Manton Reece. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  26. Reece, Manton. "Permanence". Indie Microblogging (book). Manton Reece. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  27. Reece, Manton. "Silos". Indie Microblogging (book). Manton Reece. Retrieved 2023-01-14.
  28. Reece, Manton. "Cross-posting". Indie Microblogging (book). Retrieved 2023-01-14.
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