

Ask HN: Serious FB alternatives? - dord

Hi HN, I figure with your expertise in start ups and hot tech companies, you would be the best resource for answering a simple question: is there a social network out there that doesn't suck? In my opinion, FB has become a terrible user experience that just keeps getting worse. The most recent experience being that I keep getting added to stupid groups by my friends, to which the only solution is to immediately remove myself. Is this a joke or something for which I am dumb to the punchline? This feature alone is infuriating. So is there a social network that isn't just out to exploit me and my information, or even if they do, can they at least give me more control over my own identity?
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PaulHoule
On some level I find it hard to take Facebook or most other social networks
"seriously" because they mainly exist for frivolous entertainment. (And for
marketing, which I suppose is serious, but you don't sound like you're
interested in marketing)

Part of what makes social media "social" is that your identity is defined by
you plus the community around you, so you've never really going to control
your own identity.

Other people can't put things in your Twitter feed and if you want "real
control" you can get a domain name and make a personal site. Even then there's
nothing to stop somebody from saying you're a jackass on other web sites.

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dord
That's a good point about controlling your identity. I think that's really the
only reason I still have a FB account: I can remove myself from irresponsible
content my friends post. However I think this FB groups fiasco clearly crosses
a line.

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jakkinabox
It seems like your problem with Facebook is your friends rather than the
platform. While I think letting friends add friends to groups is slightly
strange behavior, none of my friends have abused this. I think Facebook sees
it similar to being tagged in a photo by a friend which can make sense. Photo
tagging can be abused too - but only by people you allow.

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elektrolyte79
Diaspora is one alternative. I had the pleasure of meeting the founders and
they are great guys. Their philosophy around social networks is that its your
information and you should be able to control it, take it with you and share
it on your terms. It is still in the Beta stage so if you would like to join,
send me your email address and I'll send you an invitation to join so you can
check it out. Another one, which is mobile only, is Colors. It's photo based
and uses location and frequency of interaction to manage what information you
share with whom. You can find it on the iTunes app store. Hope that helps!

~~~
dord
I had sorta forgotten about those guys after the unfavorable media about
security vulnerabilities. As a developer I know how important it is to have
security built into the foundation of a product and since that first
impression I'm just not convinced that they have the technical chops to build
a solid product if they didn't get security right.

Thanks for the invite but I think I want to wait a little bit longer and see
where they go.

~~~
elektrolyte79
they are currently working with the Pivotal Labs team. They are not building
it on their own - they have technical/backend/security support now.

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bmelton
The Fridge is generally similar to Facebook in function, but is supposedly
much easier to control who sees what, and segments off your work life from
your family life from your friends.

I haven't used it, but it's YC funded I believe, and gets rave reviews:
<http://www.frid.ge/>

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trickjarrett
I like the Fridge, it seems fairly solid, simple to use, and fun. But there
are two main problems with it:

1) Getting friends etc. to buy in. Until I do, I'm suffering from the ghost
town problem.

2) There isn't a compelling use-case for me. Sure I'd like to get my family
using it, except more and more of them are on Facebook and are fine using it.
I don't have a compelling argument to get us to switch to Fridge (or some
other smaller social network.)

I would try to get my workplace on it, but even then we're all friends on
Facebook so what's the point?

I want to use it, I like it, I like the control it gives me, but I am
struggling with the why and how.

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pkamb
"real life"

