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Cohost

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Cohost
The Cohost logo, a purple egg with the letters C and O in it followed by the word host in purple
Screenshot
A screenshot of the Cohost profile picture page for a username named eggbug, and a cutoff post about an eggbug plush.
The profile page of eggbug, the site's mascot, in dark mode
Type of site
Social media
Founded2022
Dissolved
  • September 9, 2024 (end of registrations)
  • October 1, 2024 (read-only mode)
  • January 12, 2025 (website)
Country of originUnited States
Key peopleColin Bayer; Jae Kaplan; Aidan Grealish; Kara
Employees4
URLcohost.org Edit this at Wikidata
RegistrationClosed
Users203,805 (November 2023)
Current statusRedirects to the Wayback Machine

Cohost (stylized in all lowercase letters as cohost or cohost!) was a social media website publicly launched in June 2022.[1] It was owned by a not-for-profit software company named Anti Software Software Club.[2]

On September 9, 2024, it was announced that it would enter a read-only state on October 1, 2024, and be discontinued at the end of 2024.[3] Registration was closed on the day of the announcement. The shutdown was later postponed to accommodate an archiving effort by the Archive Team.[4] The website was shut down on January 12, 2025.[5][6]

History

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The idea for Cohost was conceptualized in 2019, and the mascot for the website was created in 2020. It was launched in a closed beta in February 2022. Early access registration via invite code was allowed in June of that year.[7][8] Starting around November, anyone was allowed to register, but new users had to sit through a waiting period before their account was activated.[9][10]

Cohost was reported as having financial issues in March 2024 after temporarily losing contact with the person funding it, but the site was stated to have backup plans and they were able to reestablish contact with their funder.[11][12]

In September 2024, it was announced that Cohost would be shutting down at the end of 2024, with the site entering a read-only state on October 1, 2024. The reason given was lack of funding and developer burnout.[3][13]

Features

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Cohost featured posts similar in style to Twitter, but without a character limit.[14] Users could like, comment, and repost, but some interactions were hidden, including like counts on posts, as well as the followers and follower counts of users.[1] There was no trending timeline or algorithm-based timeline; the website instead featured a chronological timeline and a tagging system where searchable hashtags could be attached to posts.[10] The website supported Markdown and editing of HTML and CSS within posts.[15] There was also a monthly subscription service called Cohost Plus (stylized as cohost Plus!, named after Microsoft Plus!), which offered an increased file size limit and other features, but mainly served as a way to support the development of the website.[16] There were plans to implement a tip jar feature and a subscription feature similar to Patreon, where users could subscribe to creators and other users on the site for access to exclusive posts,[9] but the feature (named eggbux, named after Robux) was canceled due to the payment processor Stripe changing their terms and conditions.[3]

Users

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The active userbase was around 20,000 in February 2023[15] to around 38,000 in July 2023.[14] The February 2023 report gave the number of registered users at around 130,000. A report by the staff in November 2023 gave the number of registered users as 203,805 and the number of monthly active users as 21,142.[17] The August 2024 report gave the total register user count as around 227,000[18] with the monthly active user count as 16,846; of those, 3,046 were Cohost Plus subscribers.[3]

Reception

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Cohost generally received positive reception. The site was praised for allowing users to edit HTML and CSS in posts, allowing users to make games and so-called "CSS crimes."[7] It was also been given praise for allowing users to edit posts after they are posted, a lack of ads, and navigable web design.[16] Some reviewers noted the lack of a proper search feature and the lack of a dedicated mobile app.[10][16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Korn, Jennifer (July 9, 2023). "Tired of Elon Musk? Here are the Twitter alternatives you should know about". CNN Business. Archived from the original on July 10, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  2. ^ "anti software software club". anti software software club. Archived from the original on October 1, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d "cohost to shut down at end of 2024". cohost!. September 9, 2024. Archived from the original on October 1, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  4. ^ "Our secondary funder, who has generously helped keep cohost online these last few months, has requested that we hold off on shutting down until Archive Team archival has finished. We will post an update once we have a new shutdown date". mastodon.social. January 1, 2025. Archived from the original on January 1, 2025. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  5. ^ "hi folks, we've received word that Archive Team has finished their archival of cohost. we will be shutting down the servers and deleting all data sometime tomorrow, January 12. shortly after, cohost.org will begin redirecting to the wayback machine. / thank you, as always, for having used cohost". mastodon.social. January 11, 2025. Archived from the original on January 11, 2025. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  6. ^ "thank you for having used cohost. / eggbug forever". mastodon.social. January 12, 2025. Archived from the original on January 12, 2025. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Ong, Alexis (August 3, 2022). "These 'CSS crimes' turn social media posts into games: Cohost is a different vision for social networks". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 3, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  8. ^ "credits". cohost!. Archived from the original on October 1, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  9. ^ a b Lyles, Taylor (November 18, 2022). "The Best Twitter Alternatives to Try as the Bird App Tumbles: For those that feel like they just can't take it no more". IGN. Archived from the original on November 22, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  10. ^ a b c Darlingberg, Dee (November 21, 2022). "What is Cohost? The Social Media Platform Is A Twitter Alternative". theVIBELY. Archived from the original on February 25, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  11. ^ "end-of-week financial update update". cohost!. March 15, 2024. Archived from the original on October 4, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  12. ^ Robertson, Adi (March 12, 2024). "Bad news for Cohost". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 12, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  13. ^ Perez, Sarah (September 12, 2024). "Cohost, the X rival founded with an anti-Big Tech manifesto, is running out of money and will shut down". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on October 24, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  14. ^ a b O'Sullivan, Isobel (July 5, 2023). "Best Twitter Alternatives from Threads to BlueSky: Meta's Threads is shaping up to be Twitter's most-hyped competitor. But is it the best alternative out there?". tech.co. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  15. ^ a b Tangalakis-Lippert, Katherine (March 1, 2023). "Fledgling social media sites are competing to be the next Twitter as users abandon the legacy platform. These are the frontrunners". INSIDER. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  16. ^ a b c Minor, Jordan (November 17, 2022). "Cohost Preview: Social media that's better for society". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on November 17, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  17. ^ "November 2023 Financial Update + Tipping launch plans". cohost!. November 20, 2023. Archived from the original on October 3, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
  18. ^ "the final age of posting". cohost!. September 30, 2024. Archived from the original on October 1, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2025.
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