There is no denying Facebook is among the most popular social networking services in the world. Yet in the last few years, a section of users have become wary of its privacy issues.
Despite adding new features in its arsenal, Facebook has faced the wrath of privacy-aware users. The relentless user data collection practice of the firm owned by Mark Zuckerberg has prompted those users to seek alternatives to Facebook. The good thing is you can pick from a number of available Facebook alternatives. These services are available in either app or website form and, at times both.
Vero, available on both iOS and Android offers users better control than Facebook over their data and privacy of their content. You can fine-tune who can check your posts and feeds. It also offers instant massaging between users. Vero is a subscription model based and so it does not have to earn revenue by utilizing user data and displaying ads- which is bliss. The good thing is the first million users can use the app for free, forever. The app UI is quite polished and the user base is growing well.
Tumblr is not new but most people think of it as a blogging platform. It does have powerful social networking capabilities. It is especially well suited for those into imaging and watching movies of all types. You can make your profile private and the service can be used for free. It has a web version and you can also resort to the Smartphone apps.
Mastodon made headlines last year by throwing a challenge to Twitter but you may also use this as a Facebook alternative It is way more flexible than Twitter in terms of word or post limit. Additionally, its USP is the instance feature. The UI is sleek and it has 4 columns shaped like cards. Those coming from Facebook may need some time getting used to it but that should not take long! You can use the web version and there are apps for iOS and Android too.
Not all social networking apps are meant for learning things across the world and sharing things on a global level! Available on Android and iOS, Nextdoor is ideal if your virtual socializing needs to be limited to regional things. It will not fetch you global news feeds and updates like Facebook but usage is not hard. It is especially useful when you are looking for specific services in your neighbourhood like plumbers and babysitters etc. It has become popular for usefulness in learning about criminal activities in regions of the users.
Ello is a worthy Facebook alternative for those with a creative bent of mind. It became popular in 2014 when Facebook made headlines for the real-name policy controversy. Over the years, it has evolved like its peers and now it is similar to Pinterest and a lot of creative professionals use it to create a network with the photographers, artists, and musicians. It helps them develop brand awareness. The relieving aspect is Ello does not annoy users with ads and neither snoops into their privacy. It is more of a niche social networking site.
this should be an ideal substitute for Facebook to you if you are a proponent of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies! Your posts on this platform fetch you Steem crypto tokens. Its growth has been good and the users typically stick to it for what they get in return of time spent in the site. Even if you are not fond of posting a lot, you can still use the online service as a news aggregator and enjoy the conversations online. Again, it may appeal to a niche section of web users.
It is among the top Facebook alternative services that you can give a try. It is a privacy-oriented and Open source. If you are migrating from Facebook, it will not take long getting used to it. A lot of things are quite similar like messaging, timelines etc. However, its USP is the content curation feature. There is an emphasis on blogging content too. This can be monetized by using the cryptocurrency tools of this service. Most users give thumbs up to it zero-censorship policy and encrypted messages.
MeWe scores in many ways over other popular social networking platforms including Facebook. It is devoid of ads, there is no snooping and censorship-which sounds great. You can do pretty much everything possible with Facebook on this alternative platform including sending voice messages, sharing pictures, videos and groups are there too. However, the downer is for using encrypted chats you have to pay $5.99 per year or 99 cents a month. The UI is pretty simple and less tech-savvy people can figure out the usage procedures easily.
Diaspora is a different take on the concept of social networking. It is a decentralized social network service that is also nonprofit in nature. It is in form of a personal and free web server and so no one practically owns it. So, as a user, you do not have to put up with any form of advertisement and snooping by watchdogs. You can use a pseudonym and there is not much data collection issues either. the service is pretty easy to use and it supports cross-posting to some other social networks.
Created by a person who used to work in Yahoo, Raftr claims to be a more polished social network service. It lets you connect to communities of people having similar interests. As far as user privacy goes, Raftr does collect some amount of data but it does not share your data with the third parties. There is a web version and you get apps for smartphones too. You can connect to your classmates and also choose to follow events and developments you have interest in.
Thanks for these amazing social sites I never knew some of these and they literally have good interface. A little heads up though, few of them don't have big user base yet.