TT: I Miss The Cookout

First off: No, not that one. Or the other one. I'm talking about the social media site with slogans like "Shea Butter Scented Social Media" and "IT'S LIT."

Once upon a time, Facebook still sucked. But people were coming around to the fact that not only did it suck, but it was actively harmful to its users– especially BIPOC users. From questionable moderation decisions to toxic trolls, folx started wondering if there was something better.

When they didn't see one, three Black women came together and built it themselves.

It was The Cookout, an invitation-only Black-centered social media... hang on, let them tell it:

The Cookout is an invitation only, Black centered social media platform and safe space where Black speech, ideas, and businesses are celebrated. Hate speech and anti-blackness are policed with respect to the target demographic for whom the platform was created.

Named for a Black community tradition and safe space, The Cookout seeks to bring the spirit of community inherent to its namesake to a digital platform.

Yo, I was hyped. Word spread fast in our lil kiki of a group, and I signed up for their mailing list before I bookmarked their site. A whole lot of us were excited, and we followed their Instagram and Facebook page in giddy anticipation.

A friend was kind enough to send me an invite code. During a lunch break, I pulled into a McDonald's parking space, signed up, and waited to be vetted. By the time work was over and I was home, I was in.

And it felt like home.

To just scroll down and not have to worry. The news feed was refreshing as it was populated by my people expressing the same joy, eventually giving way to Black Kid's Table Talk while making connections.

Not only was it FUBU, but non-men and LGBTQIA folx's safety was prioritized. They happily gatekept to weed out the homophobes, misogynists, and the definition of "some skinfolk ain't your kinfolk." I can't tell you how many pro-Black spaces I had to vacate because they wouldn't accept my pronouns and insisted that I fix the men's plates. And the best part? Trolls were dealt with a quickness I never saw on Facebook. Our safety and ourselves were finally taken seriously.

Being the first iteration, it was a touch janky and had a bug or two. But those were soon ironed out and plans for The Cookout 2.0 were on the way. Other than some jokers trying to swipe their idea, everything seemed to go smoothly.

Until I couldn't log into the app.

"Er, that's fine, I guess," I thought at the time, "they are probably working on backend stuff for 2.0. It'll resolve itself soon."

And then the browser version of The Cookout wouldn't load.

"Soon," I told myself. "Just be patient. Developing an app takes time!"

It was supposed to exit the final beta stage in the summer of 2021. People asked about it, for a while, but the last comment on their Twitter was in 2022– the same year I finally gave up and uninstalled the app.

So what's up?

But where are you now?

Where's Kiki????

Is the app still active?

Does this app still exist?

Hi, is the site down?

Okay but are you ever launching?

Where is it?

What the fuck happened? All we can do is speculate, since we never got an answer.

I can't express how much I really, really miss this app, y'all. It was truly an awesome and fulfilling space, and during these trying times it would have been a much welcome reprieve from everything. Between hearing the current news and dealing with online Nazi bar problems at least once a month, I'm exhausted.

But if it was done once, it can be done again. It may not be the same scope, but we'll always find each other.

Don't think [the app is active anymore]. It sucks because I'm sick of Zuck.

Hoping to see y’all back soon! The other stuff sucks.