A new social network, on the way

The old internet, for the adults you became.

B-side is a social network with a profile song, a Top 8, and a friends-only feed that ends. We brought back the parts that felt like yours — and quietly fixed everything else.

One email when we open up. No marketing sequences, no tracking pixels.

made by hand, for grown-ups

A return to the internet that felt like yours.

Remember when your profile had a song, a wall of friends, and a background that embarrassed you in hindsight? We miss that. So we're making it again — without the parts that sucked.

No.01

Your profile is a place.

Pick a template. Change the colors, the fonts, the background, the song. Add the sections that describe the person you actually are. Rearrange them whenever you want.

No.02

Friends, not followers.

Top 8. Guestbook. A feed of people you chose. No stranger engagement, no strangers in your replies, no strangers at all unless you want them.

No.03

No algorithm. Ever.

Chronological. Caps at a reasonable number per day. When you're caught up, you're caught up. Sessions are meant to end.

No.04

No ads. Ever.

Free tier for everyone. If you want more customization — custom CSS, your own domain, premium templates — you pay a few dollars a month. That's the whole business model.

What's in the box on day one.

01

Customizable profiles

12 hand-designed templates to start from. Color, font, pattern, section order — all yours. Swap templates without losing your content.

02

Profile song

Pick a song from Spotify or Apple Music and put it on your page. The single best part of old MySpace, reborn legally.

03

Top 8

Still the most honest feature social media ever had. Drag to reorder. Nobody gets notified. Some drama, in other words, is on you.

04

Slow feed

A reverse-chronological stream of your friends. Posts, photos, new songs, profile updates. Capped so you actually finish.

05

Guestbook

Leave a note on your friends' pages. It sticks around. Not a reply, not a like — a small piece of you, on their wall.

06

DMs

Friends-only by default. Private. No strangers unless you choose to let them in. No read-receipts unless you want them.

This is what your page looks like.

Everything on it is yours. The banner, the avatar, the song, the bio, the Top 8, the sections you choose to show. No feed widgets dictating what's on top. No algorithm deciding what "represents" you.

Pick a starting template — Zine, Mixtape, Dorm Room, Bento, Scrapbook, Locker — and take it from there.

Custom CSS / HTML and custom domains (yourname.bside.social → yourname.com) come with the Plus tier, a few months after launch.

M

Maren Cole

@marencole · Pittsburgh · she/her

Bookbinder by day, mediocre bassist by night. Currently re-reading every Lucia Berlin story like it's my job. Postcards encouraged. Top 8 ranked alphabetically (a lie).

412guests
24friends
sinceapr '26
No ChildrenThe Mountain Goats · 2002
...more below ↓

A quick note about how early this is.

B-side is being built by a very small team right now. No VC money, no ad strategy, no growth hacks. The waitlist is real — we'll open it up in small batches so the product doesn't fall over and the first few thousand people have a good time.

The plan is to ship v1 as a great web app in about five months. Native apps come later. Custom CSS and custom domains come on the Plus tier a few months after launch.

If you want to be part of it: drop your email below, and I'll write you directly when we're ready for you. No tracking pixels, no marketing sequences — just one email, from a person.

— David

A few things people ask.

Is this just a MySpace clone?

No. It borrows the feeling — expressive profiles, Top 8, profile songs, friends-not-followers — but everything underneath is 2026. Mobile-first, fast, modern moderation, legal music integration, no creepy ad tracking. Nostalgic surface, modern guts.

Who is this for?

Adults, 18+. Specifically, the millennials who actually used MySpace and are quietly tired of what social media has become. You can probably tell from the tone whether you're the audience.

How do you make money?

A small monthly subscription for people who want more customization — custom CSS, custom domains, premium templates, more music slots. That's it. No ads, ever. The free tier is a real product, not a trial.

What about moderation and safety?

Strict 18+, email verification, comprehensive block and report, 24-hour response SLA on reports, image scanning on every upload, and a published community policy before launch. We're taking this seriously from day one.

What's the launch plan?

Closed beta in about 4 months with a few hundred waitlist invites. Public launch about 5 months after that, web-first. Native apps come later, once the web product earns it.

Will you sell my data?

No. You can export and delete everything at any time. Privacy policy will be in plain language, not legalese. We don't have an ad business to feed.

Come back to the old internet.

Get on the waitlist. We'll email you when early access opens up — probably this summer.

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