We should go here

My partner and I send each other a lot of things. One of us hears about a restaurant and says “we should go here.” One of us comes across something that might be a good print for the kitchen, or a recipe we could try.

They ended up in our text chain, but they weren’t conversations. We were collecting things together, and the only place they fit in a thread is in the middle of everything else, where they get lost.

Now we have Pools for them. One is for ideas around the house and one is for recipes to try, and either of us can post in both. You could do the same for trip ideas, or for planning something, or for movies you want to see in a theatre. We’d probably talk about most of it in person, but if either of us wants to comment on something, the comment stays with the thing it’s about. It’s much cleaner than a text thread.

Since everything is in the right place, it’s easy to look back through, and we actually end up doing something about it.

It doesn’t have to be just practical stuff. It can be fun too. We made a Pool riffing on BeReal, an app that tries to do “authentic social media,” where we’d each post some random, weird photo from our day. We don’t do it daily, but it’s a fun place to post a little easter egg that the other person is going to see at some point.

There’s plenty you can do in Pools with just one person you share a lot with. Invite a partner, friend, or family member. Notice the things you keep sending. Maybe it’s recipes, and you see that they deserve their own Pool. Or maybe you need a special spot for the best memes. You don’t need to plan the categories in advance. Start using it, get ideas as you go, and grow into it.