Should I make a Facebook alternative?

Question

"Prime directives"- Accessibility - Privacy - No adsI know websites can exist that provide something of value without compromising what I would consider decent business/ operating ethics. Wikipedia, craigslist, etc. are massive, useful, and don't make money by exploiting their users. I quit facebook a couple years ago for multiple reasons but I have yet to see a true blue replacement. Is it too big of an ask? What does a Facebook alternative look like to you?

erikbrodch · Accepted Answer

I'll start by saying social is extremely exciting to do. I also agree there is a need for a FB alternative. But before you start, I'd highly recommend (can't stress it enough) reading this: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service. It's the best read I found on social. I wish we had read it before trying to compete TikTok :)

gvb · Answer

There are facebook alternatives, none of which have become popular:
https://alternativeto.net/software/facebook/?license=opensou...
What are the alternatives lacking that you can supply which will make your facebook alternative popular?
Can you enhance one of the alternatives (and make it popular) rather than starting from scratch?

muzani · Answer

There's a few going on. None are Facebook, they're unique in their own way.
WT.social seems to take a lot from its wiki roots, such as editing other people's posts. They make money just from donations.
Cocoon goes more personal. It's not about having a thousand friends. They're more a subscription model and can't exploit users.
I'm working at one too. It's something community based. You don't post to your own wall. You post to communities - a residential area, geographic location. We've had gaming groups and schools onboard; it's easier and cheaper to reach out than with Facebook and less intrusive than WhatsApp. It started off fairly serious but we're seeing more Instagram style selfies and Tik Tok videos. We monetize by selling community based services like condominium management.
This is just off the top of my head in 2019. There's probably some stealth mode ones going up in the near future. I wouldn't ve surprised if we see 50 more alternatives by 2025.
I think the important thing is not to make something ad based (which incentivizes addictiveness and privacy violations) and not to focus too much on network effects (which incentivizes monopolistic behaviour).

SirLotsaLocks · Answer

I'd love to see something like this, but in my opinion, there is a reason why none have turned up. It costs a lot of money to run a social network, and people aren't willing to pay to use a social network. That means you're going to have to either rely on advertisements or donations. it's hard to run on donations unless you are large because people mostly don't donate, and many that do only donate a bit. and ads are out so unless you have a reliable plan you are going to be bleeding money and eventually die, or get bought.

bjourne · Answer

It must be decentralized. Any social network in which I have to put faith in a single party is not good. Look into ZeroNet: https://zeronet.io/ Either that technology or something similar could be used to create a distributed social network.

saluki · Answer

"Here are some odds, if you&rsquo;re building just a simple company to charge a few people, what are the odds of that being a success? 1:5, 1:10 I don&rsquo;t know. But the odds of you building the next Facebook or MySpace are probably not 1:10, if it was I wouldn&rsquo;t be giving this speech, I&rsquo;d be trying to make the next Facebook." - @DHH StartupSchoolTalk 2008https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMYThis is still one of my favorite talks.

whb07 · Answer

How can you have a social network that is privacy first? Isn&rsquo;t that an oxymoron?

ben85ts · Answer

Decided to put this up after the awesome discussion here https://userheist.com

danielbraun · Answer

Good luck making money then