well that's the issue. There is no "small community" these days like there would be in the Usenet days. At least not a genreal purpose one for blogging whatever is on your mind. My parents wouldn't really care much about the content so much as supporting me. My friends don't necessarily share all the same interests as me. So you want to seek out like strangers on the internet to bond with.
That's part of why we transitioned to early web 2.0 of utilizing a middleman to host content, and use that to attract a community. The internet grew and people could focus exclusively on what they were genuinely interested in, as opposed to subscribing to users directly.
There's also RSS feeds
Horrible, confusing UX. Very limited feature sets. Mediocre performance, at best.
if that's supposed to be the future, call me a luddite I guess.
Super easy to run your own server to host content from a desk/laptop and super easy to use a client to visit other servers. You could find servers using trackers (name severs that kept track of hotline servers) or keep the server private and only give out the server info to people you want.
I think that the right place to provide this is at ISP level, positioning as a beefier router with extras.
I worked for an ISP before and did multiple projects involving consumer hardware. You do not want to be tied to whatever garbage your ISP decides to buy in bulk and give to.
You want your stuff to be movable between ISPs, however, so your domain registrar should be separate.
ISPs are not great, true, but why not build a good one? For a change.