Social media gives you a profile. A personal website gives you a place. Those are very different things and I think the difference matters more than most people realise.
You own it
Anything you put on a social media platform exists at that platform's discretion. They can change the algorithm, change the layout, shut down, ban you, or just make the experience so bad you leave. Everything you built there is tied to their continued existence and their goodwill. A personal website is yours. The domain is yours, the content is yours, the design is yours. Nobody can take it away.
It's your actual corner of the internet
This blog is called Theo's Corner for a reason. It's a space that's entirely mine — the aesthetic, the content, the structure, all of it reflects how I actually think and what I actually care about. No algorithm deciding what to show people, no character limits, no format imposed by someone else's product decisions. Just a place I built that works how I want it to work.
It's a creative project too
Building and maintaining a personal website isn't just about having somewhere to put content. The building itself is worthwhile. You learn HTML, CSS, maybe some JavaScript, maybe how to host something. You make decisions about design and structure. You end up with something that represents you technically as well as personally.
It doesn't have to be complicated
People put off making personal websites because they think it needs to be some big polished thing. It doesn't. A single HTML file with some CSS is a personal website. Something you made that lives on the internet under your own domain — that's enough. Start there and build from it.
This blog started as exactly that. One HTML file. It grew from there. Yours can too.