People are starting to wise up to what Facebook is doing with your data.

In fact according to the Ponemon Institute, trust in Facebook took a 66% Plunge in 2018. Over the past few years Facebook has been collecting vast amounts of data of all its users, which quite frankly is scary. You can see exactly what Facebook has on you by downloading your data zip file here.

Everything from photos and messages to mobile phone numbers of everyone in your phone. They also have all your text messages you’ve made on your cell phone! It’s crazy how much they have. And with the recent Facebookl CA scandal, people are now looking for alternatives to Facebook where privacy is respected and private information is never shared or sold to other companies or organisations.

Believe it or not, there are plenty of social networks and messaging apps that you can use instead of Facebook. For years these networks and apps have been living in the shadows of the mighty beast that is Facebook. But now is the time to explore a better way of interacting with friends and family without the fear of your data being stolen and stored on huge servers in far flung places.

Best Social Network Alternatives To Facebook

Ello

Ello launched back in 2014 with quite a stir in the US as it was about the time when Facebook changed its policy on names of its members, where they had to use their proper legal name. Its popularity grew as Ello presented itself to the world as a “Facebook killer social network” which doesn’t push ads down its users’ throats and doesn’t sell peoples’ information and data to 3rd parties.

Ello is growing fast again, especially as the #deletefacebook movement is gathering pace. People want to feel safe and secure on a social network and it doesn’t seem to be that way on Facebook at the moment. Hence why platforms like Ello are gobbling up these Facebook migrants.

Ello currently is a home to artists and creative people, but has the platform to embrace all types of users.

Vero

Vero presents itself as “a social network for anyone who loves anything enough to share it – and wants control over who they share it with. Just like we do in real life.”

Vero is a subscription based social network. It shows no ads and doesn’t collect data. It’s a totally different model to Facebook in the sense that Facebook needs user data in order to make money from them. Vero does collect some usage data which is used to see how often the app is used, but note that this option by default is off. Unlike Facebook where they have everything turned on and you have to go into your settings and turn them off.

Another great thing about the usage data they collect is how its displayed to you. Vero want to address the issue of social media addiction.

Vero says that they want the platform to enhance your life and not detract from it. So they use the usage data that they collect from you to show you how much time you’re spending in the app so you can manage your screen time.

Mastodon

Mastodon launched in 2017 and made quite an impact on the social network scene. Mastodon is a free, open-source social network. When it launched it was presented as an open source Twitter competitor, but as people are leaving Facebook its being used the same way you would Facebook, which makes it a really good alternative to Facebook.

Ultimately Mastodon is a decentralized alternative to all the commercial social network platforms, which means that no single company owns it or can monopolize your communication.

Steemit

Steemit is like a cross between Reddit and Quora where you can publish your posts which can be voted up or down depending if people like them or not ( similar to both reddit and quora ).

When you get upvotes you receive Steem crypto tokens which lends itself well to those cryptocurrency and open source enthusiasts. Also people are using the platform due to its compensation to the users for spending time using the platform.

Users don’t have to post anything if they don’t want to and it can simply be used as a news aggregator or just a platform to get involved in conversations related to specific interests.

Steemit has about 10 million visits per month which in comparison to Facebook is tiny! But its growing and it doesn’t gobble up your personal data and sell it to 3rd parties.

Raftr

Raftr calls itself a “civilized social network.” It launched in 2017 by Sue Decker, a former Yahoo executive. Here vision for the platform is to create a place where conversations and unfolding stories are the pure focus. Its a place where you can connect to the communities who share the same or similar interests that you have.

I love the initial sign up page as it gives you two options.

1: Find out what’s going on in the real world

or

2: Connect with people at your college / work / family etc.

What data do they collect?

Raft collects some data, but that’s only to build your profile. They do not share any of your personal data with 3rd parties.

Raft is a great alternative to Facebook and a platform where you can follow news, events and interests relevant to you.

Diaspora

Diaspora is also in the mix when it comes to Facebook alternatives. Diaspora is a decentralized social network that is nonprofit and runs on free Diaspora software. The software is in the form of a free personal web server.

As I just mentioned, Diaspora is decentralized which means no one person owns it. This means that it doesn’t have any form of advertisement and corporate interference. It also does not collect any of your data. When you create your account, you are responsible for your own data and retain the ownership of your personal data.

Unlike Facebook, Diaspora allows you to use whatever identity you want, so pseudonyms and nicknames are fine to display as your profile. You can use hashtags, mentions, text formatting, etc.

Minds

Minds is an open source social network that was created by Bill Ottman, John Ottman and Mark Harding in 2012, but launched to the public in 2015.

The platform is a community-owned social networking platform that rewards its users for their activity online, similar to the Steemit platform. They do this with paying users in crypto and providing users with more views on their posted content. Minds will monitor each users daily contribution and relative to the community. The amount a user gets will be determined by their percentage across the network which then determines their share of the Daily Reward Pool of tokens.

Minds social network is built on a foundation of freedom, transparency, privacy and democratization.

Messaging Apps – Alternative to Facebook

Telegram

Signal

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