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I wonder if an open source platform and protocol for messaging and contacts would have the potential to confront all the Facebooks, Whatsapps, etc I am not tal

I wonder if an open source platform and protocol for messaging and contacts would have the potential to confront all the Facebooks, Whatsapps, etc I am not talking about broadcasting / sharing. Just messaging and contacts (a listing where you can publish your latest contact data). So many people say that they would leave FB but they have no other means to contact many of their friends on their list. So is there anyone who can offer a solution for just this? Email is a protocol that works very good. So is sms. Platform and provider independend. - Something as successful as email with a listing of people and auto-updating contacts list (details only shown to someone that I allow).

deadbunny 9y ago
There are a few projects that try and address this. The issue for 99% of the population is that you need to run it yourself (read run a server) or know someone who does. You could go the p2p route (I'm thinking Torrents + magnet links kind of decentralised) so you just run a client and connect to the network. Of course this then leads to the problem that users would have to backup their data (which they don't) and be online to participate with no real capacity for offline comms. Which leads back to needing to running a server of some kind.