Facebook Alternatives
deletefacebook.wiki
deletefacebook.wiki
Ultimately, I don't think it's helpful to most users to throw a smorgasbord of possible vaguely-related alternatives at them. A more useful resource would be to take up the strategy of Wirecutter, in which the best and second-best options are highlighted, with actual explanations and thoughts. I think if you had to sit down and try to explain how Digg is a good alternative to Facebook to the average user, you'd realize how annoyed those users would be when they find that Digg is no such thing.
"deletefacebook" is just so blinded by agenda that they can't see the list they provide actually makes facebook look good in comparison to everything they listed. Rather than getting facebook users to leave, it'll make them value facebook even more since there aren't any better alternatives - according to "deletefacebook".
They might as well create "QuitYourProgrammingJob.wiki" and then offer the following alternatives - coal miner, septic tank cleaner, bedpan replacer.
Facebook is also the place where we keep in touch with relatives living thousands of miles away from us, who are just technologically literate enough to get on Facebook and post, but not much else. We also met on Facebook, so we owe our entire relationship to the platform.
So for us, Facebook has done a lot of good, we rely on it for the nice life we have together, and it provides something that can't currently be replaced by other platforms.
This could be helpful in the event that another channel fails.
Twitter? That's even less private than fb. Reddit? Seriously, you want me to post my wedding pictures on Reddit?
And for events, who is going to invite friends and family to their birthday via Eventbrite? Doodle? It's not like we need to settle on a date for my birthday.
Though of course, I'd imagine all your friends would tell you to fuck right off.
From what I've experienced so far the federated platforms are very, very strong.
Isn't there a happy medium somewhere? Where someone could use a facebook like model with ads to let users in for "free," but also accept payment for absolute privacy and content control.
Part of me thinks even if you made the best, most amazing platform it'd still be a gamble if you'd get the user adoption momentum necessary to be a serious competitor. Google couldn't do it.
I guess Snap is an interesting case study here, but we can all read the writing on the wall.
Facebook users in general seem a lot less tech oriented, so the initial push could be less.
Diaspora seems like a very well built-out alternative to Facebook in terms of features and speed (speed&cleanliness are much better). However the network effect is of course a thing. Maybe when Diaspora gets connected to the Fediverse via ActivityPub the Fediverse enthusiasts will tell their parents and grandparents to move over.
Diaspora allows for quite easy interaction with the mainstream social media apps as well. Also I haven't used diaspora much so I can't speak from experience there, but creating a mastodon account is no more complicated than signing up for twitter.
Thanks for the recommendation and explanations though!
Here some of them:
- Movim, a kind of XMPP-based social network: https://movim.eu/
- Accounts for Mastodon and Diaspora instances from Framasoft by its "De-google-ify Internet" initiative: https://degooglisons-internet.org/en/list#tag-social
- Other ethical hosts defined by the KITTENS/CHATONS chart (full translation in English in progress): https://chatons.org/en
Be aware, even if you can self-hosting your own accounts, you have to consider how your "friend's" accounts are hosted.
PS: In what way are these alternatives "crowdsourced" and why is it in the HN title and not the article title?
I think the issue isn't about finding alternatives to it, it's convincing the people completely entangled in the Facebook ecosystem why they should jump ship. Another issue comes with, a number of people don't use Facebook, but they use Instagram, which is just a rebranding of the same evil at this point. Getting people to switch from that would prove tough.
Also, who knows if the app you switch to will have less problems in future than Facebook does now.
I tend to avoid such generalizations. I lived in an unsafe neighborhood and saw people do what they can to improve their situation, with poor if any help from government. Call them racist seems unfair and totally misunderstanding their problem.
This is a common tactic to identify if someone is home or not and to look for packages to grab, if not an attempt to social engineering credit card or checking info.
Frankly, I can't believe this app exists.
De-platforming seems to be a powerful tool for censorship.
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[1] Yes, I know that doing this is somewhat ironic, but it will help your engagement if people know what the site is before they click on it.
Similar in concept, although probably more critical and privacy-focused. Not perfect, but I think it's an admirable idea.
This is what my family who never joined Facebook did. We all just send everybody email updates once a month. No need to see ads or Grandma's racist reposts every day!
Or identify if a lot of users from (ex. India) are visiting and can provide local options for them.