Manifesto
Every social network you have used runs on the same engine: publish, get counted, publish again. We think that engine is what makes them exhausting. So we removed it.
Attention comes from questions, not from posting
On most networks you have to earn attention by performing. The people with the biggest audience win, and everyone else learns to say what the audience already wants to hear. Here the order is reversed. The community asks one question a week, and every owner who answers gets read by people who care about that exact thing. Nobody has to build a following to be heard.
You give your answer before you see anyone else’s
Other owners’ answers open only after you share your own. That is the whole trick. It keeps answers honest, because you cannot tune yours to the crowd, and it keeps you from lurking: the value of the place is that people actually said something.
No likes, no counters, no ranking
There is no heart button and nothing to keep score with. An answer is not better because more people tapped it. The only reaction is a reply, written by a person, which takes a moment and means something. Without scores there is nothing to game and nothing to be quietly ashamed of.
A circle instead of followers
When someone’s experience is useful to you, you add them to your circle. It is private: they are not told, there is no count, and nobody can see who is in it. It simply makes their future posts show up in your day. Followers are a stage; a circle is a list of people you would ask again.
The day ends
“Today” is a short list, not a feed. Things waiting for you, replies to you, what your circle shared, one or two people in a situation like yours. When it is done, it says so. Nothing is hidden behind a scroll, and there is no reason to come back in ten minutes.
Every card says why it is there
You never have to guess what an algorithm wanted from you. Each thing on your day has a plain reason: someone replied to you, this person is in your circle, this owner also has a first cat in a flat. If the reason is not good enough, that is our bug to fix.
Photos of cats, not of a lifestyle
Location data is stripped from every photo before anyone sees it. Profiles are not indexed by search engines. Answers stay inside the community. You can block anyone, and neither of you is told.
What we are not trying to do
We are not trying to keep you here. A good week on OnlyMeows is one question answered, one useful reply and a person or two worth remembering. Then go feed the cat.