4 ms·

Ask HN: Is There an Alternative to Facebook?

6 points by ystad 6y ago

With Facebook having an iron-grip over personal social networking. I wonder if folks out there have considered using other alternatives?

ilonacodes 6y ago
Discord has the potential to be the alternative to Facebook that many developers and people in tech and product have been wanting for a long time!
- rolph 6y ago
  the potential would be greatly increased with self hosting rather than FB of a different flavor. discord needs a login to off premises services
gregjor 6y ago
Somehow people made friends, kept in contact with their families, and got news before Facebook. No one needs Facebook or online “social networking.” This question is the same as asking how people survive without eating at McDonalds.
- wreath 6y ago
  I don't understand the down vote for this. If you're geographically away from your family and friends and need to stay in touch, there are other media for that and you don't need a whole solution like Facebook.
martinrlzd 6y ago
I quit Facebook a few years ago and never looked back. Before leaving Facebook, FOMO was a thing for me. But after I had left for a few month, I realized that life on Facebook had hardly anything to do with offline life. The alternative for me is to ask people for their phone number, and keep contact via WhatsApp or Telegram with them, if I feel it was worth staying in touch. Definitely harder than just "be friends" on Facebook, but way more real.
cpach 6y ago
Slack; email; IRC. I use all of these. Plus Facebook.
- ystad 6y ago
  I am trying to organize my friends within a private slack. It has been With mixed success. I end up being in multiple slack orgs.
  - cpach 6y ago
    Yeah that’s probably very hard to avoid in the Slack world
muzani 6y ago
A few are coming out. The company I'm in focuses more on communities (neighborhoods, gaming groups), with increasing focus on privacy and monetization via selling neighborhood related features. WT.Social focuses more on the media part of social media. I used to really dislike LinkedIn, but with a lot of social marketing/personal branding moving to Facebook, it might be time to give it a shot. There's another one I can't recall the name of, but it focused on close and personal friends, rather than the 200 friends we tend to have on Facebook.
Aperocky 6y ago
I don't use facebook, while I still have a facebook account, I haven't made updates in years. With that said, I don't really have social networking at all, but there's not much to be missed.
photawe 6y ago
Yes, it's called "No Facebook"
w00tf00t 6y ago
minds, mastodon, diaspora. that is about it. as for twitter, there is gab and parler. i think minds has the best potential but they lack development. they haven't changed over the years. beside new UI that was put to action few months ago and made it look like twitter for some reason, it's the same site, functionality-wise, it has always been. i left because of low interaction and the groups are a joke. gab is very "twitterey", some people think parler is no the sh... but i doubt it. anyway, i am no longer on any of them. it always boils down to interaction. or the lack of. that is where you need solid backend for recommendations and things like that.
nikonyrh 6y ago
If you want to share your every-day events and pictures why not just host a blog? Then see how many people are actually so interested that they'll visit the site :D RSS feeds would help aggregating updates from several people.
jokz 6y ago
https://privacytoolslist.com/#decentralized-and-social-networks https://privacytoolslist.com/#decentralized-and-social-netwo... facebook alternative with a bias towards privacy

6 points by ystad 6y ago

With Facebook having an iron-grip over personal social networking. I wonder if folks out there have considered using other alternatives?

ilonacodes 6y ago

Discord has the potential to be the alternative to Facebook that many developers and people in tech and product have been wanting for a long time!

rolph 6y ago
the potential would be greatly increased with self hosting rather than FB of a different flavor. discord needs a login to off premises services

gregjor 6y ago

Somehow people made friends, kept in contact with their families, and got news before Facebook. No one needs Facebook or online “social networking.” This question is the same as asking how people survive without eating at McDonalds.

wreath 6y ago
I don't understand the down vote for this. If you're geographically away from your family and friends and need to stay in touch, there are other media for that and you don't need a whole solution like Facebook.

martinrlzd 6y ago

I quit Facebook a few years ago and never looked back. Before leaving Facebook, FOMO was a thing for me. But after I had left for a few month, I realized that life on Facebook had hardly anything to do with offline life. The alternative for me is to ask people for their phone number, and keep contact via WhatsApp or Telegram with them, if I feel it was worth staying in touch. Definitely harder than just "be friends" on Facebook, but way more real.

cpach 6y ago

Slack; email; IRC. I use all of these. Plus Facebook.

ystad 6y ago
I am trying to organize my friends within a private slack. It has been With mixed success. I end up being in multiple slack orgs.
- cpach 6y ago
  Yeah that’s probably very hard to avoid in the Slack world

muzani 6y ago

A few are coming out. The company I'm in focuses more on communities (neighborhoods, gaming groups), with increasing focus on privacy and monetization via selling neighborhood related features. WT.Social focuses more on the media part of social media. I used to really dislike LinkedIn, but with a lot of social marketing/personal branding moving to Facebook, it might be time to give it a shot. There's another one I can't recall the name of, but it focused on close and personal friends, rather than the 200 friends we tend to have on Facebook.

Aperocky 6y ago

I don't use facebook, while I still have a facebook account, I haven't made updates in years. With that said, I don't really have social networking at all, but there's not much to be missed.

photawe 6y ago

Yes, it's called "No Facebook"

w00tf00t 6y ago

minds, mastodon, diaspora. that is about it. as for twitter, there is gab and parler. i think minds has the best potential but they lack development. they haven't changed over the years. beside new UI that was put to action few months ago and made it look like twitter for some reason, it's the same site, functionality-wise, it has always been. i left because of low interaction and the groups are a joke. gab is very "twitterey", some people think parler is no the sh... but i doubt it. anyway, i am no longer on any of them. it always boils down to interaction. or the lack of. that is where you need solid backend for recommendations and things like that.

nikonyrh 6y ago

If you want to share your every-day events and pictures why not just host a blog? Then see how many people are actually so interested that they'll visit the site :D RSS feeds would help aggregating updates from several people.

jokz 6y ago

https://privacytoolslist.com/#decentralized-and-social-networks https://privacytoolslist.com/#decentralized-and-social-netwo... facebook alternative with a bias towards privacy