Personal
At ProcoliX we believe the internet should be open and fair. Security, sustainability and transparency are very important to us. We always use open source solutions independent from big tech. Still, we are on Instagram. Why?
Photo by Sanket Mishra via Pexels
Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the Netherlands. According to the Nationaal Social Media Onderzoek (Newcom, 2026), 8.9 million Dutch people use it. Many young people find news and inspiration there. For us it is an important way to share our ideas with a large audience. If we only talked inside a small open source community, we would reach far fewer people.
Being on these platforms is not the goal. It is a bridge. People who find us on Instagram can move on to alternatives like Mastodon, where they control their own data and help build a fairer internet. By using accessible content, for example a photo featuring our team’s favorite tech toolkits, we help people understand how open source works and why privacy is so important. For many people this is their first contact with these ideas.
Being on big tech platforms does not mean we give up our principles. We use these platforms consciously to increase awareness. We use the reach to question the power of big tech.
Our goal is to help more people join the Fediverse, a network of decentralized social media. By being visible on big platforms we can invite people to take the step to a fairer online world. Every follower on Instagram can become a future open source user. The more people switch, the faster the internet can move from closed, profit-driven networks to open and honest platforms.
That is why we are (still) on Instagram. Not because we believe in big tech, but because we believe in people. As long as these are the places where conversations happen, we will be there too, always with the goal of raising awareness and inviting people to try more open alternatives.
Want to look beyond big tech? Follow us on Mastodon, where we can have free and open conversations.