6 ms·

Anybody know a worthwhile open source social network alternative?

by GCU-Empiricist 9y ago

prudhvis 9y ago
I think a better alternative should be, a de-centralized distributed open source social network.
- dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
  You mean Diaspora - I think it's clear by now why this concept can't work.
  - deaddodo 9y ago
    I haven't really followed up on diaspora much, but why is that? Isn't the idea behind diaspora something similar to sub-reddit's/facebook groups? You find a "pod" of interest/relation and join up. Thus a focus on the social/community aspects.
- NickBusey 9y ago
  Like Mastodon? https://mastodon.social/about https://mastodon.social/about
  - wetpaws 9y ago
    How is this different from twitter aside from decentralized part?
    - Crespyl 9y ago
      Open source and open standards are the other big draws. Otherwise it does seem to be closely based on twitter style interaction.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
konschubert 9y ago
I like the idea of Mastodon.
kome 9y ago
try Mastodon.
kawfey 9y ago
Patchwork: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16273096 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16273096
anonyx69 9y ago
Steemit is interesting.
askafriend 9y ago
A viable alternative requires your friends and family to be on it. So there is no viable alternative for most people - decentralized or otherwise.
- randomsearch 9y ago
  WhatsApp was the only viable alternative. Which is why Facebook bought it. Should that have been legal?
- xj9 9y ago
  invite them to join then? mastodon has some great apps. if you have the skills you could even set up an instance or two for your friends/family to meet up on. it won't work for 100% of the people you know, but it isn't that difficult to get a few friends to try a new app/service. even if you can't/don't know how to set up an instance, there are hundreds of public servers that you can join. honestly, the only excuse is that you don't want to put yourself out on a limb. https://joinmastodon.org https://joinmastodon.org
  - askafriend 9y ago
    > invite them to join then? I'm sorry but I'm not going to spend my personal time convincing hundreds of my contacts to move over to a random service called Mastodon. I've got better things to do with my life. I'm going to use Facebook as a tool and move on - as I'm sure the less vocal majority are doing. There is a philosophical viewpoint and a practical one. I choose the practical one.
    - xj9 9y ago
      > hundreds lmao ok like this is an all or nothing situation. my response should have been prefixed with if you care about promoting alternative networks you could... (which is what OP was asking for), mastodon is the largest one right now. i think SSB has a brighter future, but it isn't production ready quite yet. "practical" as in, what you think is best. it is practical for me to invite people to promote decentralized social networks because my community is competing with the facebooks of the world for attention. your "impractical approach" is my "guerilla marketing strategy".
fenwick67 9y ago
Mastodon is pretty active and usable. Patchwork has some big advantages. It's fully distributed, not federated like Mastodon/diaspora/OStatus, and works offline. But the experience isn't as polished yet. There are still some lingering issues with Patchwork... namely, it only runs on desktop computers, and your identity is tied to one device. But they are actively working on these issues. Both are really cool and worth checking out.
Raphmedia 9y ago
If you want to roll your own for your friend group the easiest is https://buddypress.org/ https://buddypress.org/ on some free/cheap hosting + a 25$ theme to make it look modern.

Anybody know a worthwhile open source social network alternative?

prudhvis 9y ago

I think a better alternative should be, a de-centralized distributed open source social network.

dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
You mean Diaspora - I think it's clear by now why this concept can't work.
- deaddodo 9y ago
  I haven't really followed up on diaspora much, but why is that? Isn't the idea behind diaspora something similar to sub-reddit's/facebook groups? You find a "pod" of interest/relation and join up. Thus a focus on the social/community aspects.
NickBusey 9y ago
Like Mastodon? https://mastodon.social/about https://mastodon.social/about
- wetpaws 9y ago
  How is this different from twitter aside from decentralized part?
  - Crespyl 9y ago
    Open source and open standards are the other big draws. Otherwise it does seem to be closely based on twitter style interaction.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

konschubert 9y ago

I like the idea of Mastodon.

kome 9y ago

try Mastodon.

kawfey 9y ago

Patchwork: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16273096 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16273096

anonyx69 9y ago

Steemit is interesting.

askafriend 9y ago

A viable alternative requires your friends and family to be on it. So there is no viable alternative for most people - decentralized or otherwise.

randomsearch 9y ago
WhatsApp was the only viable alternative. Which is why Facebook bought it. Should that have been legal?
xj9 9y ago
invite them to join then? mastodon has some great apps. if you have the skills you could even set up an instance or two for your friends/family to meet up on. it won't work for 100% of the people you know, but it isn't that difficult to get a few friends to try a new app/service. even if you can't/don't know how to set up an instance, there are hundreds of public servers that you can join. honestly, the only excuse is that you don't want to put yourself out on a limb. https://joinmastodon.org https://joinmastodon.org
- askafriend 9y ago
  > invite them to join then? I'm sorry but I'm not going to spend my personal time convincing hundreds of my contacts to move over to a random service called Mastodon. I've got better things to do with my life. I'm going to use Facebook as a tool and move on - as I'm sure the less vocal majority are doing. There is a philosophical viewpoint and a practical one. I choose the practical one.
  - xj9 9y ago
    > hundreds lmao ok like this is an all or nothing situation. my response should have been prefixed with if you care about promoting alternative networks you could... (which is what OP was asking for), mastodon is the largest one right now. i think SSB has a brighter future, but it isn't production ready quite yet. "practical" as in, what you think is best. it is practical for me to invite people to promote decentralized social networks because my community is competing with the facebooks of the world for attention. your "impractical approach" is my "guerilla marketing strategy".

fenwick67 9y ago

Mastodon is pretty active and usable. Patchwork has some big advantages. It's fully distributed, not federated like Mastodon/diaspora/OStatus, and works offline. But the experience isn't as polished yet. There are still some lingering issues with Patchwork... namely, it only runs on desktop computers, and your identity is tied to one device. But they are actively working on these issues. Both are really cool and worth checking out.

Raphmedia 9y ago

If you want to roll your own for your friend group the easiest is https://buddypress.org/ https://buddypress.org/ on some free/cheap hosting + a 25$ theme to make it look modern.