The Berlin-based startup Myrtle offers a new avenue for those who want to leave centralized social media managed by Big Tech companies. Instead of signing up for a decentralized, open social networking app like Mastodon or Bluesky, Periwinkle allows anyone to create a social media account on their own domain, under their own control.
Built on top of the AT Protocol, the same open source technology that powers the X alternative Bluesky, Periwinkle aims to provide the infrastructure you need to run your own social media.
This means you can have an account on your own domain on sites like Bluesky or a hosted social site specifically for your organization or community. Periwinkle offers domains for purchase and allows you to store your data, including your posts, followers and user profile, on your own PDS (personal data server), which is part of the AT Protocol infrastructure.
Periwinkle makes the transition easy for non-technical users or others who don’t want the headache of having to build and maintain their own server. Once Periwinkle is connected, users’ servers are updated, backed up and monitored by the company, leaving the user free to focus on posting to social media.
“We will be the first fully managed PDS service in the market; there is no one else doing it right now,” says Periwinkle founder Charles Blumenthal. (To be clear, there are other organizations that offer alternatives to Bluesky’s PDS, such as Blacksky(but its tools are focused on those building self-governing online communities.)
This idea is similar to how people who want to start their own blog can choose between an easy-to-use hosted blog on WordPress.com, a DIY setup using the open source software from WordPress.org, or something in between — like a WordPress installation managed by a third-party hosting provider. Periwinkle offers the same, but for decentralized social media.
Blumenthal, a former software engineer at McKinsey, says the idea came to him after he realized that many people didn’t really understand the AT Protocol and its benefits.
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“It’s not really a good idea that a few billionaires have control over how billions of people communicate,” he told TechCrunch. “If you could give up Twitter to a competitor and all your followers and all your content and everything — just be with you and just log in — you would, right?”
The development of the Bluesky application supported by the AT protocol, which now it has more than 43 million registered users, shows there is some demand for this kind of offering, Blumenthal said, adding that he believes that market will likely expand over time to include people who want to own their personal data, rather than trust it to another company.
Periwinkle’s premium plans start at $4 per month for a Basic Plan with support for five handles and 5GB of storage, with real-time backups and a choice between EU or US hosting. Custom business plans are also available.
A free plan is available for those who want to try the service, with 500MB of storage space.
These plans could be useful to those who want more granular control over their social media account, such as public officials or political candidates, or accounts run by businesses. Over time, the company aims to add more tools like automated post deletions, archiving tools, and more.
Blumenthal is currently a solo founder and the company is self-funded for now, although he is talking to investors in Europe, he said. Over time, he’d like to bring on another engineer and someone else to handle communications and marketing.
