I self-host a Matrix instance and it's great. It's just the network thing where you need your friends to hop on it before it gains much value. In the meantime,

I self-host a Matrix instance and it's great. It's just the network thing where you need your friends to hop on it before it gains much value. In the meantime, Matrix makes it possible (not trivial, in my experience) to bridge to other chat services. Bridging requires a fair bit of technical know-how.