

Facebook alternatives spreadsheet - Raphael
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AjEncbAI_BjbdGJXNTY1bHpGS2o0U29ablR6R1ZSTkE&hl=en

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ynniv
My vote is for something based on Google Wave (protocol). Standards based,
distributed, scalable. Similar to email, you can own your own server (and by
proxy, data), but still have realtime updates. I pointed this out when Wave
was announced, but most people were obsessed with the hype of wave to
understand the possible applications of the framework.

[http://ynniv.com/blog/2009/08/google-wave-is-not-email-it-
is...](http://ynniv.com/blog/2009/08/google-wave-is-not-email-it-is-
facebook.html) (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=754193>)

(Edit: BTW, OpenSocial is also XMPP based with a web frontend)

~~~
axod
Wave is just another boring protocol. Protocols aren't hard. They're not
valuable. It's not rocket science.

Building something people need is valuable, and getting people to use it is
very valuable.

That's where Wave failed IMHO.

~~~
ynniv
_Wave is just another boring protocol. Protocols aren't hard. They're not
valuable._

Yes. Agreed. Please don't invent a new one.

 _Building something people need is valuable, and getting people to use it is
very valuable._

Yes. Agreed. Someone else already did the "boring" work (and has been bug
fixing it), so why not build upon that? Grab some code right here:
<http://code.google.com/p/wave-protocol/>

You know what users don't want? A Rails app thats "like Facebook but OPEN". Or
basically any solution based on scraping or polling, which will never scale.
An application of Facebook quality is not a quick hack, and making that app
distributed is _way more complicated_.

People are currently using Facebook because Facebook is a good product, and
took a lot of effort to get there. There were a number of competitors
available to them, which did not catch on. Statistically, any new effort will
also fail. So whatever you do, do yourself a favor and pick something that's
pretty close to Facebook already, and work your way from there.

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rythie
There is a fairly big list at
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websi...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites)
including traffic numbers

~~~
aeontech
There's also [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_micro-
blogging_se...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_micro-
blogging_services)

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fairlyodd
Well, you can definitely build a facebook alternative -- it will take a while,
and it'll be probably not be up to par with what the top-notch talent at fb
dishes out, but anyway, you'll build it. It is there. How would you convince
people to use it? Without the people, the technology is bunk. I have hundreds
of friends all locked into FB - a mass exodus is definitely not possible.

I think that FB has grown beyond a point where any other network can compete
in the short run. The more important thing is that FB needs to realize they
have attained a size where they need to care about social responsibility and
be governed by certain policies. All these attempts by the site to ram down
new social values into our culture is what needs to change.

~~~
minus1
"I have hundreds of friends all locked into FB - a mass exodus is definitely
not possible."

Replace FB with MySpace and reconsider.

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samratjp
Wow, a very active spreadsheet without a clear reason as to why do this? Can I
ask what this is for please?

~~~
Raphael
Many geeks are clamoring for alternatives to Facebook in light of privacy
concerns, so it would be useful to see what developers are working on.

~~~
fredoliveira
While I kinda understand what you're going for here, I feel compelled to point
out that while there is a feeling of angst against Facebook from a few people,
it is still the de facto social network today whether we like it or not.

It's going to take quite a bit for it to actually be substituted by another
platform. My guess at this point is that all this discussion will make
Facebook adapt, not necessarily die.

~~~
yanw
It doesn't mean that one must capitulate and take their bullshit.

~~~
axod
I for one agree with you. There has to be a time when we all stand up and say
"ENOUGH!". That time is now. Facebook have simply gone too far now, taking
away essential freedoms from us. So who's with me? I just deleted my account
and told all of my friends to do the same. Vote with your feet!

~~~
savant
foaf+ssl = distributed social networks.

See markmail.org/message/xywxnqp3adqcem5f for some specs on how it might work
:)

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robryan
I think the key is something that will start by having the option to air
everything you do on it on facebook also. People would be more open to change
if it meant they could still keep up with both in the interim.

I know when facebook was just starting out with people I know that a lot were
happy to post actively on both, same with Twitter/facebook now. Long term I
don't think people really want to but when something is new definatly.

The other issue is monetising the new site, your selling points are also your
ones which make being advertising supported hard, I think the aim would be to
keep lean unlike the monolithic structure facebook has today.

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aeontech
What about <http://identi.ca> and Tornado [<http://www.tornadoweb.org/>]
(friendfeed's server that facebook released?

Oh, and Plurk [<http://www.plurk.com/>], if you're not just listing
alternatives that can be federated/self-hosted.

~~~
leif
What on earth does Tornado have to do with replacing facebook?

~~~
aeontech
I thought the question was about alternatives to facebook. Using Tornado you
can write one. That's all.

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ivankirigin
A listing of social networks without a column for number of active users
misses the point entirely.

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aneil
2peer is a distributed peer-to-peer social network, similar to diaspora. It
has downloadable Windows and Mac clients: <http://2peer.com>

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frisco
It was an interesting list for a little while. Now people just keep blanking
the spreadsheet. See: Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.

