I’m sure a lot of this is just stating the obvious, but sometimes the patently obvious is too obvious for its own good.
For the rest of this, it really helps if you already know some basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. As I mentioned before, knowing how to copy/paste from a reference website and do a tweak or two is probably plenty. Most of what I’m suggesting is on the level of “know how to make a link in HTML” or “know how to copy/paste embed code from YouTube.”
Do you want to share video? YouTube is your friend. Every video will supply you with the code you need to embed it in your page. And since you have that gmail account, you already have a YouTube account you can use to post your own video. Granted, you have to abide by their TOS, but they aren’t all that draconian unless you’re posting atheist commentary. If you don’t like YouTube there are plenty of alternatives. One of them is self-hosting video if you have your own hosting. Just create a directory to store your videos in, upload them, and embed video from your own site in your posts. Unless you’re hosting a lot of video or flagrantly violating copyrights – don’t post the entire first season of Mandalorian – you should be OK.
Picture sharing is a core feature of WordPress with its featured images and gallery post type. There are also a pile of websites for this out there. Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest, just to name a few. And if you’re a content creator, there are sites like Deviant Art. If you think your content is worth money, give Patreon a shot.
News is easily handled by news aggregator sites. I like Fark, but there are plenty of others from across the socio-political spectrum. Most of them have built-in message boards to discuss the articles. Pick one or a few, and you can share links and commentary to and from them at will. You’ll also get far more content than you’re seeing on Facebook. My only real comment on selecting them is do yourself a favor and pick aggregators that aren’t just pure propaganda mills. Not because it will screw with your FB replacer, but because I’m not big on people being painfully uninformed.
For eCommerce you have a bunch of sites that will let you set up your own little store. Planet Mercenary and Catalyst Game Labs both go through Shopify and I’ve never had anything go wrong with them.
There are also WordPress plugins so you can sell things directly from your blog. Stacie uses WooCommerce over at Rock Solid Mamas, and it features full Square support. It took all of half an hour to set up, including me poking and prodding the store innards to see what it can do. Adding items to your store is pretty straightforward; I’m pretty sure I could run my own online store using it, and Stacie assures me anyone who has run a store will have no problem with it.