Chris Stokel-Walker's piece in The Guardian gets something important right: the mass migration from X and Facebook to apps like Strava, Goodreads, and Letterboxd is one of the healthiest trends in social media right now. These "hobby apps" are built around real interests, not algorithmic outrage. Their communities are gentler, their moderation lighter, and their users happier.
Strava has seen 20% year-over-year user growth. Letterboxd went from 1.8 million to 14 million users since 2020. Goodreads has 150 million members. These numbers are genuinely exciting. They prove something we've believed since day one: people don't want to quit social media. They want social media that feels human again.
But Stokel-Walker's analysis left us wondering: what if hobby apps aren't the destination, but the first step? What if we can take everything great about them (shared interests, kinder communities, real hobbies) and add something they're missing: a reason to put the phone down and go do the thing?
Hobby apps are brilliant ledgers. What if they were launchpads?
Here's the thing about Strava, Goodreads, and Letterboxd: they're extraordinary at recording. Strava tells you exactly how far you ran. Goodreads tells you exactly how many books you finished. Letterboxd tells you exactly what you thought of every film you watched. They're beautifully designed journals, and millions of people love them for it.
But a journal, by design, looks backward. It documents what already happened. If you want to actually grow in your hobby (improve your photography, cook more adventurously, run faster), a ledger can only take you so far. It can tell you that you ran your 50th 5K. It can't help you set your sights on a 10K, or turn that momentum into a challenge you're excited to take on.
That's the gap we built Topick to fill. It takes the community model hobby apps proved works and lets your own activity create the momentum. Instead of logging what you consumed, you post what you created. Every post builds your streak. Every streak turns your hobby into a challenge you set for yourself: one you actually want to keep going.
Three lessons from the hobby app boom
Stokel-Walker's reporting surfaces real insights that shaped how we think about Topick:
- Community around interests beats community around algorithms. The flight from X to Strava proves people crave connection around shared passions, not optimized engagement. We built Topick topic-first for exactly this reason: every topic is a self-policing community of people who actually care about the thing.
- Kinder platforms scale better. Letterboxd thrives with fewer than 10 moderators while TikTok needs 40,000. Shared-interest communities self-regulate because people show up for the hobby, not the fight. That's not a coincidence. It's a design principle.
- Tracking is the gateway. Momentum is the destination. Hobby apps proved that millions of people want to document their passions. The natural next question is: what if every log entry helped you keep that momentum going? What if your own activity naturally created the next challenge?
From tracking to doing: how Topick builds on the hobby app model
| What hobby apps do beautifully | What Topick adds on top |
|---|---|
| Track what you consumed | ✓ Post what you created |
| Passive logging of what you've done | ✓ Streaks and challenges you create by doing |
| Kudos and likes as validation | ✓ Real-skill progression with levels, streaks, skill trees |
| Siloed by hobby (Strava for running, Goodreads for books) | ✓ 150+ topics in one platform, cross-pollinate your interests |
| A record of where you've been | ✓ A roadmap for where you're going |
Hobby apps proved something essential: social media doesn't have to be toxic. It can be built around real interests, real communities, and real kindness. Stokel-Walker's piece captures that shift beautifully, and we could not agree more.
The next step is taking that foundation and adding forward momentum. Not a nicer feed. A platform that makes you want to put the phone down and go do the thing. Hobby apps showed us what community looks like. Topick shows us what comes next.
Topick is a topic-first social platform where you post what you do and keep your momentum going. Photography, cooking, running, painting, 150+ topics. Every post is something you actually made or did. Every streak turns your hobby into a challenge you set for yourself. Built for iOS and Android, launching soon.