What real alternative is there, though? If you want to do the whole social networking but don't want to give all of your info? A couple of my communities created FB groups, but... FB. A couple of others were mentioned... WeMo, Mastadon, Discord, Slack... but they all seem to be different animals. The only real thing for public communities that opposed it was pretty much G+.
-wraith808
Kind of a 'techy' alternative (they encourage you to set up your own "pod" to interact with), but the Diaspora Project is like a social network where you (or somebody you trust) holds the keys to the gateway.
Lots of people have posted about it here on DC, mostly mentioning it in passing, but here's a link:
https://diasporafoundation.org/Welcome to diaspora*
The online social world where you are in control
diaspora* is based on three key philosophies:
- Decentralization
Instead of everyone’s data being held on huge central servers owned by a large organization, diaspora* exists on independently run servers (“pods”) all over the world. You choose which pod to register with, and you can then connect seamlessly with the diaspora* community worldwide. - Freedom
You can be whoever you want to be in diaspora*. Unlike some networks, you don’t have to use your real identity. You can interact with people in whatever way you choose. The only limit is your imagination. diaspora* is also Free Software, giving you liberty over how you use it. - Privacy
In diaspora* you own your data. You don’t sign over rights to a corporation or other interest who could use it. In addition, you choose who sees what you share, using Aspects. With diaspora*, your friends, your habits, and your content is your business ... not ours!
Looks like you can cross-post your Diaspora posts to Twitter, Tumblr and WordPress, which is nice I guess. I signed up forever or two ago, and now I don't even remember what 'pod' I signed up with. I've also been off Facebook for about a year and a half. If I want to know what's going on in people's lives, I have their phone number (the ones that matter, at least).
Anyway, there you go. YMMV.
*I don't know what the asterisk is for, but apparently it's part of the name; "diaspora*" not "Diaspora". :shrug:
