This article seems to miss a few things. I can do just fine without "news" from newsfeed. Their alternatives don't let me see pictures of, for example, my sist

This article seems to miss a few things. I can do just fine without "news" from newsfeed. Their alternatives don't let me see pictures of, for example, my sister and brother's families. Random thoughts of people And so on. I'm sure my family would occasionally send me pictures, but it is hard to inconvenience everyone else. Not only that, but it would be more inconvenient for me. The main reason I joined facebook was because it was a simple way to keep in touch when moving overseas, after all. I can give updates and pictures without sending to so many people. Groups are a weird thing. I find things like Reddit to be a different sort of feel. Lastly: I think for a lot of people, alternatives need to be able to communicate with facebook and have be compatible in some ways. Right now, facebook is more akin to a phone company that only lets folks speak with others in the same network. If they would allow "friends" outside the network, allow public posts to be viewed by anyone, messenger coordinates with other messenger services, there would be more chance for folks to actually switch. In addition, more folks would switch to other services if there were an easy way for people to port some things to a new service: Profile information, pictures, and so on. Marketplace misses the point as well. I occasionally sell artwork, for example. I don't advertise or self promote much, but do keep up an art page. The sales I get are generally from facebook. There are a few social networks dedicated to artwork, but it definitely isn't the same. Someone else commented that facebook is great for finding events - I, too, use this. Sometimes the biggest problem with replacing messenger is that others still use messenger. My experience from pre-facebook times is that no, most people don't change for you. They simply talk to you less. Not having messenger on my phone (desktop only) causes some issues here and there as it is.