Before LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, influencers, creators and personal branding, there was Hyves. And apparently, this is where a big part of my story started.
Hyves is coming back.
If you are Dutch and of a certain age, that sentence probably does something to you. And yes, by writing this I am immediately revealing my age. 😂
Krabbels. Respect. WieWatWaar. Profile backgrounds that were a complete attack on your eyes. Music that started playing WITHOUT permission the second you opened someone’s profile. And, of course, the political battlefield known as your Top 8. If you know, you know. But when I heard that Hyves was coming back, something else happened. I started looking through my old internet life.
Before tech, there was photography
Not because I wanted Hyves back. But because I suddenly realised how much of the person I am today was already there. Long before I started talking about AI, technology, leadership and the future of work, I was a photographer.
In 2008, I started FdB Fotografie. Photography wasn’t just something I did. For years, it was my world.
And I took my camera everywhere. Photoshoots, backstage at television productions, fashion shows, X Factor, De TV Kantine, events, New York, Dubai. If something interesting was happening and I could get close enough with a camera, I wanted to be there.
But there was another part I loved just as much. Taking other people with me. Today we would probably call that content creation or storytelling. Back then, I certainly didn’t.
My thinking was much simpler:
OMG. LOOK WHERE I AM. LOOK WHAT I JUST SAW. LOOK WHO I MET.
Take a picture. Upload it. Write something. Share it. And then talk to everyone about it. That last part will surprise absolutely nobody who knows me today. 😂
And then there was Hyves
Hyves became one of the places where I shared all of this. And it became big. In a normal week, my page could attract around 70,000 unique visitors. Per week.
Even typing that number now makes me think: HOW?!
There was no content calendar. No personal branding strategy. No discussion about hooks, impressions, dwell time or whether the algorithm preferred carousels this week. I wasn’t trying to become a creator. I was simply creating. I wasn’t trying to build an audience. I was sharing things I thought were worth seeing.
And somehow, people kept coming back. Looking back, I think that distinction matters. Because so much of what we now try to engineer about visibility happened almost accidentally when the internet was still a little less polished.
You found something interesting. You shared it. People responded. You started a conversation. And you did it again.
There is another part of that period I had almost forgotten. The Next Big Thing.
Together with FdB Fotografie, we created a recurring page in newspaper. Every two weeks, we used that space to put talented and ambitious people in the spotlight.
People with an idea. A dream. Talent that deserved more attention. People where we thought: others need to know about you.
I love rediscovering that now because it changes how I look at my own career. I used to think my photography career and my technology career were two completely different chapters. Maybe they aren’t. Because even then, visibility was never only about making myself visible.
I loved finding people, stories and ideas and giving them a bigger stage. And nearly 18 years later, that sounds strangely familiar.
Then one day, it was gone
This is the part we sometimes forget when talking about social media. Hyves disappeared. One day you have tens of thousands of people visiting your page. You have conversations, content, connections and years of work sitting on a platform. And then that platform no longer matters.
There was no button saying:
“Hi Femke, would you like to take your 70,000 weekly visitors with you?”😂
They were gone. And I continued with my life. At the time, I don’t think I understood how valuable that lesson would become. Today we talk constantly about followers. Reach. Views. Engagement. Algorithms. But all of those numbers are rented. The platform owns the infrastructure. The algorithm controls distribution. The behaviour of the audience changes. And sometimes the entire platform disappears. Which means there is a difference between building an audience on a platform and building something with people.
You build reach on platforms. You build reputation with people.
That may be the biggest thing Hyves taught me, although it took me almost 18 years to understand it. My Hyves reach disappeared. But not everything disappeared with it. The relationships didn’t all disappear. The experience didn’t disappear. My curiosity didn’t disappear.
My ability to walk into a room, find an interesting story and think more people need to know about this didn’t disappear. And apparently my uncontrollable urge to share things with the internet didn’t disappear either. 😂
That travelled with me. And when I look at my work today, I suddenly see the connection.
The communities became bigger. The subjects became different. But underneath all of that, I recognise the same pattern.
Discover something. Learn. Get excited. Bring people with you. Give other people a stage. Share what you know. Connect people who should know each other. Repeat.
Build something the platform cannot take away
Maybe careers are sometimes much more consistent than they look on a CV. There is also a lesson here for anyone building a personal brand today. And actually, I don’t particularly like the phrase “building a personal brand.” Build a reputation instead.
A follower is useful. A person who trusts you is much more valuable. A viral post is fun. Someone remembering that you helped them three years ago is more powerful. Ten thousand impressions look great on a dashboard.
One introduction that changes someone’s career may matter for the rest of their life.
So yes, understand platforms.. Try whatever comes next. But don’t confuse the platform with what you are actually building.
Build something that can survive the platform.
Share knowledge people can use. Help someone before you need something from them. Put someone else in the spotlight. Make introductions. Create communities where people build relationships with each other, not only with you. Have a point of view. Make things worth remembering.
And then I found our old marketing plan…
While digging through all of this, I found the old marketing plan for FdB Fotografie. It talks about how important social media had become to our growth. We were using Hyves, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr and YouTube.
Remember, this was around 2010. And then I found a little description that made me laugh out loud.
Part of our approach was essentially:
“Always online.” HAHAHAHA.
Well. Nearly 18 years later, I clearly have made absolutely no progress on that particular development point. 😂 Different career. Different technology. Different platforms. Same Femke. And maybe that is what I love most about finding this old chapter again.
I didn’t suddenly become someone who loves communities, visibility, sharing knowledge and putting people in the spotlight when I entered the technology industry. It was already there. I just had a camera in my hand instead of a microphone.
So… Hyves is back
I have no idea what we are going to do with that information yet. 😂 Are we bringing back krabbels? Do I need to start thinking about my Top 8? Can somebody please promise me that profile music will return?
And where, exactly, do I retrieve my glitter background? But underneath all the nostalgia, Hyves coming back gave me something I didn’t expect. It made me look backwards and recognise something about where I am going forwards.
Platforms change. Careers change. Technology changes.
But sometimes the thing that drives you doesn’t change nearly as much as you think.
Apparently, I have always loved discovering things, sharing what I learn, bringing people along and shining a light on people who deserve to be seen. I just didn’t have a name for it yet.
So here is my question for you: if you went back to your own internet life 15 or 20 years ago, what would you recognise about the person you are today?
