A little over a week ago, I started building something I've wanted to see for a long time: a social network that feels more personal and nostalgic.
It's called Genggi.
The idea is simple: create a profile that actually feels like you, connect with friends, share posts and photos, and bring back some of the feeling that old-school social networking had.
Why I Started Building It
Modern social platforms feel increasingly optimized for feeds, engagement, and algorithms.
I wanted to build something different.
I miss the feeling of having your own profile, customizing it, seeing what your friends were doing, sharing random moments, and just exploring people's profiles.
So I started building Genggi as a small experiment.
Then it started getting more interesting.
Building It With Next.js
The current version is built with:
Next.js
TypeScript
Tailwind CSS
MongoDB
Cloudflare R2
Vercel
I'm using Next.js App Router for the application and MongoDB for the data layer.
For user-uploaded images, I'm using Cloudflare R2 so I can keep storage and delivery costs manageable as the platform grows.
Authentication is also integrated into the application, and I'm continuing to improve the security and moderation side as more people start using it.
The Design
One of the things I care about most is the feeling of the platform.
I don't want Genggi to look like another generic SaaS dashboard.
Profiles are an important part of the experience.
I want users to feel like their profile is their own little space on the internet.
It's Still Very Early
Genggi is currently in beta.
I started building it only a little over a week ago, so there are still plenty of things I want to improve.
I'm currently working on things like:
Better profiles
Friends and social connections
Comments and reactions
More profile customization
Better image handling
Performance improvements
Moderation and spam prevention
More nostalgic features
I'm Looking for Early Users and Builders
At this stage, I'm not trying to pretend Genggi is a finished product.
I'd rather have people try it, break things, tell me what's confusing, and tell me what they would want from a nostalgic social network.
I'm also interested in connecting with developers, designers, SEO people, and people who enjoy building communities.
If the idea sounds interesting, I'd love to hear what you think.
Genggi: https://genggi.com
It's still early, but I'm excited to see where it can go.
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