Best social media alternatives are Facebook and Twitter

The best social media alternatives are Facebook and Twitter.

Social media was on the way (remember Myspace?) Before mass giants like Facebook and Twitter took over the industry. These days it may seem like you can use these services or nothing else. However, there are many competing sites that may offer more of what you want or at least less of what you not.

No matter what your specific complaints about the leaders of the social media market are, you always have a social media alternative to turn to.

Mastodon

Mastodon is a decentralized alternative to the microblogging service Twitter. It looks and works just like Twitter, so current Twitter users won’t have a hard time getting used to it. Instead of tweets, you send “beeps” up to 500 characters long.

Under the hood, however, Mastodon works very differently from Twitter. Mastodon is not a traditionally hosted web service, it is distributed over a “federated” network.

Different instances of Mastodon are home to different types of content or different communities. Each has its own rules and policies, but they work together and share data seamlessly. Instances can block each other or certain content from other instances, but users can interact with each other in different instances without any problem.

Its federal network structure makes it difficult, if not impossible, to shut down Mastodon, and as such, it has become home to diverse and often marginalized subcultures.

Diaspora*

Major social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are profit-driven. This is one of the reasons they use the collected user data to offer better advertising to other companies.

Diaspora * is a non-profit social network owned and operated by users. The system is divided into “modules” that are managed and owned independently of each other. Like the Mastodon instances, these capsules are networked. Even the initial development of the diaspora * was due to crowdsourcing.

Ello

Ello started out as a direct Facebook alternative. The main difference was that Ello had no ads, so it did not collect or sell user information to advertisers. Since then, it has become a little less like Facebook and more like visual sites like Pinterest, Deviant Art, or Instagram.

Ello liked the artists so much that now the site is positioning itself as “The Creators Network”. You’ll find a large collection of top artists showcasing their work, as well as plenty of opportunities for aspiring and aspiring artists to chat with briefs and showcase their portfolios.

Ello is notable for its no ads and no real names policy. User data is also not sold to third parties. This makes it a compelling alternative to Facebook’s Instagram, with some Facebook aspects thrown in as a good measure.

The Dots

In fact, Dots is more of an alternative to the likes of LinkedIn, but many people use platforms like Facebook or Twitter to create a less formal professional network, so we should still include Dots in the discussion.

“Professional Network for People Who Don’t Wear Suits” is the best you could describe in The Dots. Their copywriter definitely got a bonus!

The Dots welcomes professional employees from the most popular startups as well as big established brands. This is where companies hire talent, but it’s also a good place to find other people who can help you, give advice, or even work on projects. The detailed profile is easy to set up so people can see who you’ve worked with, what you’ve done, and what work you’re going to do.

NextDoor

Many people who use Facebook are actually looking for connections only with people who are nearby, such as those who live in the neighborhood. This is why people create private Facebook groups for homeowners associations and schools.

If this is your main reason for using social media, you might want to consider NextDoor. It is a social media platform designed specifically to enable people living in the same area to communicate in society without being exposed to the broader social group. You will also gain access to local resources such as businesses in your area, nonprofits, and programs.

NextDoor requires each user to confirm their name and address, but this information is not shared with anyone. This will ensure that the people you interact with truly become part of the local community. So you will be aware of events and problems in your area without the worry of strangers interfering.

Minds

Wired magazine calls Minds an “anti-face”. Minds have a unique business model in which you can earn tokens or real money for your activities on the site.

It is a combination of various elements of social networks. You can publish blog posts, videos, images, and statuses. There are channels with trending topics, and there is also a secure group chat.

If you create content, your fans can get paid in USD and cryptocurrency. So it’s almost a mixture of Facebook and various platforms like YouTube and Patreon.

Minds are completely open-source, which means you can review their algorithms to know exactly how they work. Their content policy is very open and uses a community jury to determine if something is not right.

Signal & Telegram

We’ve grouped these two social media alternatives together because they are both alternatives to Facebook Messenger and similar apps like Whatsapp, which is owned by Facebook.

Both Signal and Telegram offer more privacy-focused services. While all of these services use encryption to protect your messages from prying eyes, Signal and Telegram do their best.

Of the two, Signal is the strictest in terms of privacy. It takes a tough stance against storing metadata on its servers, and it doesn’t store or transmit information, like when you were last active. Signal also does not store any information about its users, but of course, this means that they become a little less comfortable than Telegram.

We really recommend people use both Telegram and Signal. Telegram is great as a more private general-purpose messaging app with interesting social features, while Signal is perfect for when you need to communicate with the highest levels of privacy and security.

Social Media on Your Own Terms

Different social media platforms use different ways of doing business. They have their own policies, views, and company structure. Some want to make a profit, others want to create communities. There is nothing inherently good or bad about any of these options, but what matters is that you have a choice.

A complete monopoly on any service or product is never good, and these social media alternatives allow you to decide what sacrifices you want to make.

The best social media alternatives are Facebook and Twitter

The best social media alternatives are Facebook and Twitter