Meet Feeds: The European Social Media App Prioritizing Real Connections

Two young entrepreneurs from Mainz have launched a new social media app called Feeds. Lennart Hampel and Luca Schneider, both 22, created the platform to offer a European alternative to dominant U.S. and Chinese tech companies. Their goal is to give users more control over what they see online. Hampel and Schneider developed Feeds after growing frustrated with existing social media. The app prioritises posts from friends and family, moving away from algorithm-driven entertainment. It also includes a 'Friends Feed' mode, showing only content from mutual connections.

To support local discovery, Feeds has a 'Local Feed' feature. This displays posts from the user’s immediate area, helping them find nearby events and places. The app uses approximate location data to protect privacy.

Users can customise their experience further. They can filter out short-form videos, for example, to focus on photos instead. Hampel, who studied business informatics, even based his bachelor’s thesis on the app’s recommendation system.

The project received early backing from Mainz’s economic development agency. A local business angel investor also provided support, helping the founders build their GDPR-compliant infrastructure in Europe. The app is now available as a privacy-focused social media option. It offers filtering tools, local discovery, and a focus on personal connections. All technical systems remain based in Europe to ensure full data protection compliance.