This
week I came across some alternatives to Facebook. As I am sure you all know
Facebook is the number one social network today. Being number one does not mean
it is without problems. There have been several security issues with Facebook
over the last few months, resulting in personal information on Facebook being
used by major corporations to make money. The information stolen from Facebook
has resulted in several phishing schemes and the loss of millions of dollars by
the users of Facebook.
Not
only has data been stolen from Facebook, but Facebook has also been caught
selling user data to every corporation and organization that comes with an
offer, including nefarious ones like the CIA and Cambridge Analytica. Facebook
also owns two of the other most popular social media sites in the world,
Whatsapp and Instagram.
As a
result of these issues, many people have threatened to leave Facebook and begin
looking for alternatives. Looking at historic trends, they do leave Facebook
for a while, but for some reason always come back. If you are looking for some
alternatives then read on, but I will give you fair warning that it will be
difficult to transition from Facebook, and the top options lack many of the
features you have come to depend on.
The
top on the list is MeWe, “Like Facebook, but with privacy.” MeWe was engineered
with privacy and freedom of speech as its core values. They built a
revolutionary service where people can be their real, uncensored selves. MeWe
is free of advertising and spyware, has no political biases or agendas, and
comes with a promise to never sell member data in part of the unique “Privacy
Bill of Rights.” MeWe does not gather facial recognition data or manipulate
content or the newsfeeds on you page in any way. MeWe members can also enjoy
fully encrypted online chat, live video and voice calls, voice messaging and
private cloud storage. MeWe displays every post, chat, comment, etc. made by
your personal network in true timeline order with no interference.
Next
on the list is Ello, “The Creators Network.” Ello is probably more like Pinterest
than Facebook and was formed in 2014 for those who create or enjoy viewing
artwork. Your feed on Ello is focused around your interests rather than around
a friends’ list and all your posts are public. You can comment, like, repost,
follow, buy, and sell content on Ello. Just like MeWe, Ello refuses to sell
your data to advertiser or third parties and is ad-free. They also do not force
you to use your real name, so you can remain untraceable.
The
last one I will talk about this week is Diaspora. Diaspora is unique in the
realm of social media platforms. Diaspora consists of many different networks,
called pods. The pods are hosted on decentralized systems deployed by
individuals in the open source community. It is also ad-free and focused on
freedom and privacy. Like Facebook you can post status updates, share content,
and leave comments on posts. Diaspora encourages users to report offensive content,
but content is only censored with the approval of the pod administrators. The cool
part about Diaspora is that, since it is decentralized, it cannot be owned by
any one individual or corporation. You can even operate your own pod, which
acts as a server in the network and allows you keep your data completely
private. You can really own your own data and control who can see it. You can
also completely remove your own pod with no trace back to the public content.
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