My Videos Are Now on My Own Platform

Hello! From now on, my videos will be available at video.FranzGraf.de. I might still post on YouTube and Instagram once in a while, but my focus is shifting to my own platform and the fediverse.

Why Self-Hosting?

Honestly, I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram promise reach, but the reality is a bit different. An algorithm decides what gets seen and what not. And I’ve realized – and also admitted to myself – that I simply don’t perform in these environments. If my content isn’t shown to the people who want to see it, what’s the point? Sometimes even the people following me don’t see my content!

But there are other reasons too:

• I don’t want my work buried between ads.
• I don’t want to hand over my content to big platforms so they can do whatever they want with it. The past couple of months have shown the immense power these monopolies have – and how quickly their priorities can change.
• Elena Rossini just published a blog post that covered the same topic and nails some of the reasons pretty well.

The Tech Behind It

At first, running my own video service seemed complicated. I considered hosting a PeerTube instance, especially because it integrates with the Fediverse – but hosting a video platform myself? I was in doubt. But thanks to YunoHost, I finally dared to try it myself. And well, what should I say – here we are!

What This Means for You

• No ads. Just my videos.
• No Google or other account needed. Follow via RSS or visit the site directly.
• No algorithm deciding for you. You get all the content, always.

Check it out at https://video.franzgraf.de and let me know what you think!
If you use a newsreader, you can subscribe to the RSS feed: https://video.franzgraf.de/feeds/videos.xml