Honestly I haven't found one yet as the key thing for me is the one that people I know are on :( It also depends what you want from a G+ alternative. Personally I think MeWe is almost what I need, just not quite there yet
Friendica has been a great alternative for me so far. Even better because I can engage with others using pluspora and hubzilla (or any federated network type). All public posts are visible to the Internet. (No one needs an account to see these posts.) Friendica has private messaging, groups (circles), and advanced account types that can be used in place of collections and communities. Additionally, an event calendar is integrated and you can edit your posts if needed.
A new release is coming soon as there is a release candidate under tests by many right now. The development team is active and welcoming via various community forums (like G+ communities). Privacy controls are in the hands of the users. You can self host a node if you want 100% control or you can signup via a friend's node or any of the public registration nodes.
I'm enjoying pluspora, it has a public stream and you follow hashtagged topics BUT sharing to twitter (if you do) that can be clunky and so can sharing photos. I've also exported my GPlus posts to Blogger and am trying to do longer posts and photos there to share out. I've ended up following people's blogs a lot more in my feed.
Lars Fosdal Diaspora uses its own protocol but Friendica and Hubzilla support the most protocols (5 of the 6 including AP). Friendica and Hubzilla support the Diaspora protocol which is why I can communicate with users on Diaspora but also other network types that do not use the Diaspora protocol. Pluspora is a Diaspora pod.
Mike Waters There are a lot of reasons why people choose the Federation/Fediverse.
open source no single authority not tied to money interests control is in the hands of the users not the admins can self-host
Diaspora is not the only network type in the Federation/Fediverse. But because they are federated, users have the possibility of reaching others (2.4 million and growing) without needing separate accounts on all network types. Imagine never having to create a new social network home again. It's a reality I embrace!
Shelenn Ayres Thanks for sharing this! Neither Fediverse nor Federation seem to include MeWe, where the majority have said that they are going. Anyway to include them also? If so, that would simplify things.
All of the above, and none of the above (none can do it all, in such an integrated way - with editing, translation, sharing, formatting, and publicizing). My observation (psychologist/social scientist/user) is that the "Federation" network is very popular with bloggers, including Pluspora (with lots of G+ migrants), which allows for public posts and permanent albums, and Friendica, and other diaspora 'pods'). And MeWe is very popular for phone-connected people, with easy texting, voice chat, and pretty graphics, formatting, and editing. But things disappear, a selling point (or curse), and there's a wild side - including many booted off FB.
So I think "it depends what you want" and if it's really about "social" your preferences will likely lead to one of those listed above, but unless you join groups on MeWe it will look dead other than invites from anonymous people (no public feed) whereas on Pluspora you can sit back and watch a public feed or add a few old/new contacts into "aspects" (like the once-working "circles" of G+) and watch their feeds, &/or public. No great apps for phone-centric lifestyle. As for promoting things, some are looking to Blogger/Wordpress and deciding how/where to park the content. As for analytics, nothing matches G+.
If you orient around existing friends/acquaintances "here" and just can't stomach Facebook, it may be a good time to see what works well between the options, and "fits" comfortably. You may need more than one new home to capture many of the G+ refugees who are now scattering and checking out new homes.
Mike Waters MeWe is a commercial single authority platform. Unless it chooses to federate, users in network types in the Federation/Fediverse can't interact with their users. This is similar to users on FB not being able to interact with G+ users - both of those are also commercial single authority platforms. The Federation/Fediverse or what I call the federated web space is decentralized meaning there is no single authority. It is a concept of of network types using agreed upon protocols. As a result, as long as users exist it exists - not subject to the whims of any one company deciding to sell or shut down. That appeals to me. On the other comment - yes I did at one time.
Shelenn Ayres There are two ActivityPub implementations for WordPress already. I like the way this is heading. If it grows big enough, the silos will fall.
Mike Waters Federation is technical. To be able to "include" MeWe, MeWe would have to include itself, by implementing the protocol. I don't see that happening.
Philipp Gärtner The official policy of this Community, speaking as a moderator is that we won't tell you where to go, but we will help you decide that. The main link here to the #PlexodusWiki FAQ addresses much of this.
The most critical questions are what are your own goals and concerns and where are your own contacts headed?
You should be asking or checking on your personal contacts -- friends, family, co-workers, professional contacts, students, people you've been following online -- and what they plan to do.
There are a lot of options, there are some key differentiators, and there are disadvantages or missing features with many or most.
Google cut short the sunset period of G+ by four months, and may well do so again. You should be making decisions now for at least interim alternatives.
Some specific recommendations of factors to consider:
* Choose a platform that's available now. There are a number of interesting options still in development, many with attractive features. The risk of committing to one of these now is high.
* Choose a platform which provides what you need and has a minimum set of showstoppers. It won't be everything Google+ is, but then neither will Google+ in 129 days.
* You can establish beachheads on several platforms, and decide on your principle one(s) later. #googleplus and #gplusrefugees hashtags will generally find other Plussers.
There's a further set of things you should be doing NOW, most of which is talking over with your contacts and collecting their contact and forwarding information:
Mike Waters Point of fact: there is no clear majority decision. Based on John Lewis's recent straw poll, there is a closely contested plurality between MeWe (46%) and Diaspora (40%), though most users are assessing multiple options. Note that the methodology gives limited confidence in these results as it's a self-selected response poll, not random sampling.
J P Sousa Paula Diaspora is actually far more similar to G+. Word is that early G+ was modelled on it. Posts can have extensive formatting, far more than G+, though there are no Collections or Groups (nor were there with G+ when it first released).
J P Sousa Paula Diaspora is considered a macroblog I believe while Mastodon and Pleroma are as you say microblogs. Given Diaspora's inability to edit I chose Friendica and may use Hubzilla for longer postings int he future when it matures. But I am still favoring Friendica which is actively being developed and evolving in parallel by the same developers for the most part. The use case for Hubzilla is different than for Friendica IMO.
J P Sousa Paula The links work fine for me as top posts just not as comments. This has been mentioned to developers as an inconsistent feature that impacts usability.
I agree that people should definitely be experimenting and trying different sites to find others, since as was pointed out above, google plus has moved its end date once already and might do so again.
Tried many... None of them really worked (pluspora, mewe etc.) waiting for openbook but web users is not their priority. There's nothing out there for me works like G+ which allows me to post my street photography to my collection and my stock photography to my wall while helping me to promote my work with its SEO friendly structure. So I simply back using my blogger, twitter and instagram.
Kerem Go Friendica has advanced account types you can use in addition to your account to post photos like the news account type. Then you can market the link to that like replacing collections.
What I am leaning towards is downloading my G+ collections and use that WordPress converter that someone (?) offers. I can install a WordPress site on my bare-metal RHEL LAMP server that automatically installs security patches through cPanel's WHM GUI.
Mike Waters you can integrate your WP with Friendica also ;) It would be interesting to see if a comment on Friendica would show as a comment on WP? I don't have one.
Mike Waters The Friends+Me Google+ Exporter will port directly to Wordpress or Blogger. (It also does JSON exports and should handle most static site generators).
Pterotype is a tool that will link Wordpress and Mastodon networks. There are others. It may reach Friendica as well, though I'm not sure. RSS syndication from blogs to virtually any platform is viable.
There are also options to export to Blogger, LiveJournal, and Tumblr. For Twitter you can import export and mirror. For G+ you can mirror (using that myself). Finally you can integrate with email and use RSS feeds, XMPP, and so on. There are other features but I will leave those off this thread.
New comments on this blog are moderated. If you do not have a Google identity, you are welcome to post anonymously. Your comments will appear here after they have been reviewed. Comments with vulgarity will be rejected.
Diaspora
ReplyDeleteMewe
ReplyDeleteNope.
ReplyDeleteHam radio.
ReplyDeleteCB radio.
ReplyDeletegopher
ReplyDeleteHonestly I haven't found one yet as the key thing for me is the one that people I know are on :( It also depends what you want from a G+ alternative. Personally I think MeWe is almost what I need, just not quite there yet
ReplyDeleteDiaspora, Friendica, or Hubzilla.
ReplyDeleteString and tin (okay, aluminum) cans.
ReplyDeleteFriendica has been a great alternative for me so far. Even better because I can engage with others using pluspora and hubzilla (or any federated network type). All public posts are visible to the Internet. (No one needs an account to see these posts.) Friendica has private messaging, groups (circles), and advanced account types that can be used in place of collections and communities. Additionally, an event calendar is integrated and you can edit your posts if needed.
ReplyDeleteA new release is coming soon as there is a release candidate under tests by many right now. The development team is active and welcoming via various community forums (like G+ communities). Privacy controls are in the hands of the users. You can self host a node if you want 100% control or you can signup via a friend's node or any of the public registration nodes.
Here is a list dir.friendica.social - Friendica Directory
Kenneth Thompson - itym steel.
ReplyDeleteHow about this in the future?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.openbook.social/en/home
openbook.social - Openbook | A social network for a better tomorrow.
I'm enjoying pluspora, it has a public stream and you follow hashtagged topics BUT sharing to twitter (if you do) that can be clunky and so can sharing photos. I've also exported my GPlus posts to Blogger and am trying to do longer posts and photos there to share out. I've ended up following people's blogs a lot more in my feed.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Banana
ReplyDeleteSay no thanks to I do not understand the enthusiasm with which many use...
https://plus.google.com/+IsaacKuo/posts/JDZsmW57uwW
plus.google.com - Say no thanks to MeWe I do not understand the enthusiasm with which many use...
Cass Morrison Friendica allows you to integrate with Twitter as well as other social networks via settings.
ReplyDeleteWhich of these supports activepub?
ReplyDeleteWhy is Diaspora better than MeWe? Open minds want to know.
ReplyDeleteLars Fosdal Diaspora uses its own protocol but Friendica and Hubzilla support the most protocols (5 of the 6 including AP). Friendica and Hubzilla support the Diaspora protocol which is why I can communicate with users on Diaspora but also other network types that do not use the Diaspora protocol. Pluspora is a Diaspora pod.
ReplyDeleteMike Waters There are a lot of reasons why people choose the Federation/Fediverse.
open source
no single authority
not tied to money interests
control is in the hands of the users not the admins
can self-host
Diaspora is not the only network type in the Federation/Fediverse. But because they are federated, users have the possibility of reaching others (2.4 million and growing) without needing separate accounts on all network types. Imagine never having to create a new social network home again. It's a reality I embrace!
FYI fediverse.party - Fediverse
ReplyDeleteFYI the-federation.info - The Federation - a statistics hub
ReplyDeleteWell...MeWe might b a Gd option...Hvnt tried yet...A suggestion frm my G+ friends...
ReplyDeleteShelenn Ayres No more walled gardens and vendor lock-in.
ReplyDeletejeremydormitzer.com - What is ActivityPub, and how will it change the internet?
Shelenn Ayres Thanks for sharing this! Neither Fediverse nor Federation seem to include MeWe, where the majority have said that they are going. Anyway to include them also? If so, that would simplify things.
ReplyDelete(BTW, it looks like you work for NASA. :-)
All of the above, and none of the above (none can do it all, in such an integrated way - with editing, translation, sharing, formatting, and publicizing). My observation (psychologist/social scientist/user) is that the "Federation" network is very popular with bloggers, including Pluspora (with lots of G+ migrants), which allows for public posts and permanent albums, and Friendica, and other diaspora 'pods'). And MeWe is very popular for phone-connected people, with easy texting, voice chat, and pretty graphics, formatting, and editing. But things disappear, a selling point (or curse), and there's a wild side - including many booted off FB.
ReplyDeleteSo I think "it depends what you want" and if it's really about "social" your preferences will likely lead to one of those listed above, but unless you join groups on MeWe it will look dead other than invites from anonymous people (no public feed) whereas on Pluspora you can sit back and watch a public feed or add a few old/new contacts into "aspects" (like the once-working "circles" of G+) and watch their feeds, &/or public. No great apps for phone-centric lifestyle. As for promoting things, some are looking to Blogger/Wordpress and deciding how/where to park the content.
As for analytics, nothing matches G+.
If you orient around existing friends/acquaintances "here" and just can't stomach Facebook, it may be a good time to see what works well between the options, and "fits" comfortably. You may need more than one new home to capture many of the G+ refugees who are now scattering and checking out new homes.
My take, FWIW. Your mileage may vary.
Mike Waters MeWe is a commercial single authority platform. Unless it chooses to federate, users in network types in the Federation/Fediverse can't interact with their users. This is similar to users on FB not being able to interact with G+ users - both of those are also commercial single authority platforms. The Federation/Fediverse or what I call the federated web space is decentralized meaning there is no single authority. It is a concept of of network types using agreed upon protocols. As a result, as long as users exist it exists - not subject to the whims of any one company deciding to sell or shut down. That appeals to me. On the other comment - yes I did at one time.
ReplyDeleteShelenn Ayres There are two ActivityPub implementations for WordPress already. I like the way this is heading. If it grows big enough, the silos will fall.
ReplyDeleteLars Fosdal Friendica already integrates with Wordpress and Blogger.
ReplyDeleteMike Waters Federation is technical. To be able to "include" MeWe, MeWe would have to include itself, by implementing the protocol. I don't see that happening.
ReplyDeletePhilipp Gärtner The official policy of this Community, speaking as a moderator is that we won't tell you where to go, but we will help you decide that. The main link here to the #PlexodusWiki FAQ addresses much of this.
ReplyDeleteThe most critical questions are what are your own goals and concerns and where are your own contacts headed?
You should be asking or checking on your personal contacts -- friends, family, co-workers, professional contacts, students, people you've been following online -- and what they plan to do.
There are a lot of options, there are some key differentiators, and there are disadvantages or missing features with many or most.
Google cut short the sunset period of G+ by four months, and may well do so again. You should be making decisions now for at least interim alternatives.
Some specific recommendations of factors to consider:
* Choose a platform that's available now. There are a number of interesting options still in development, many with attractive features. The risk of committing to one of these now is high.
* Choose a platform which provides what you need and has a minimum set of showstoppers. It won't be everything Google+ is, but then neither will Google+ in 129 days.
* You can establish beachheads on several platforms, and decide on your principle one(s) later. #googleplus and #gplusrefugees hashtags will generally find other Plussers.
There's a further set of things you should be doing NOW, most of which is talking over with your contacts and collecting their contact and forwarding information:
https://social.antefriguserat.de/index.php/Recommended_Practices
Make a pinned Profile post with your contact / forwarding information.
Help other refugees find you on other platforms with the hashtags #googleplus and #gplusrefugees
Announce your new arrival if possible with an introductory post.
*Add your public contact information to the G+MM Public Directory:
https://goo.gl/forms/EnkYfrY9HYKkr7iy2
Use the G+ Notable Names Database and G+ Notable Communities Database to list and find your and others' alternate online homes.
https://social.antefriguserat.de/index.php/G%2B_Notable_Names_Database
https://social.antefriguserat.de/index.php/G%2B_Notable_Communities_Database
social.antefriguserat.de - FAQ - PlexodusWiki
Mike Waters Point of fact: there is no clear majority decision. Based on John Lewis's recent straw poll, there is a closely contested plurality between MeWe (46%) and Diaspora (40%), though most users are assessing multiple options. Note that the methodology gives limited confidence in these results as it's a self-selected response poll, not random sampling.
ReplyDeleteplus.google.com - Here are the poll results regarding where people are planning to go. The poll...
Cass Morrison This sounds useful, rather than (or as well as) posts on platforms - useful to use blog sites and follow more people.
ReplyDeleteJ P Sousa Paula Diaspora is actually far more similar to G+. Word is that early G+ was modelled on it. Posts can have extensive formatting, far more than G+, though there are no Collections or Groups (nor were there with G+ when it first released).
ReplyDeleteFormatting example:
joindiaspora.com - Markdown Quick Reference
J P Sousa Paula Diaspora is considered a macroblog I believe while Mastodon and Pleroma are as you say microblogs. Given Diaspora's inability to edit I chose Friendica and may use Hubzilla for longer postings int he future when it matures. But I am still favoring Friendica which is actively being developed and evolving in parallel by the same developers for the most part. The use case for Hubzilla is different than for Friendica IMO.
ReplyDeleteJ P Sousa Paula The links work fine for me as top posts just not as comments. This has been mentioned to developers as an inconsistent feature that impacts usability.
ReplyDeleteJ P Sousa Paula Twitter's Lists are quite similar to Diaspora*'s Aspects, and can be used to mention everyone in a list too: https://itstillworks.com/send-tweets-lists-8449462.html
ReplyDeleteitstillworks.com - How to Send Tweets to Lists | It Still Works
I agree that people should definitely be experimenting and trying different sites to find others, since as was pointed out above, google plus has moved its end date once already and might do so again.
ReplyDeleteTried many... None of them really worked (pluspora, mewe etc.) waiting for openbook but web users is not their priority. There's nothing out there for me works like G+ which allows me to post my street photography to my collection and my stock photography to my wall while helping me to promote my work with its SEO friendly structure. So I simply back using my blogger, twitter and instagram.
ReplyDeleteKerem Go Friendica has advanced account types you can use in addition to your account to post photos like the news account type. Then you can market the link to that like replacing collections.
ReplyDeleteWhat I am leaning towards is downloading my G+ collections and use that WordPress converter that someone (?) offers.
ReplyDeleteI can install a WordPress site on my bare-metal RHEL LAMP server that automatically installs security patches through cPanel's WHM GUI.
Mike Waters you can integrate your WP with Friendica also ;) It would be interesting to see if a comment on Friendica would show as a comment on WP? I don't have one.
ReplyDeleteMike Waters The Friends+Me Google+ Exporter will port directly to Wordpress or Blogger. (It also does JSON exports and should handle most static site generators).
ReplyDeletePterotype is a tool that will link Wordpress and Mastodon networks. There are others. It may reach Friendica as well, though I'm not sure. RSS syndication from blogs to virtually any platform is viable.
There are also options to export to Blogger, LiveJournal, and Tumblr. For Twitter you can import export and mirror. For G+ you can mirror (using that myself). Finally you can integrate with email and use RSS feeds, XMPP, and so on. There are other features but I will leave those off this thread.
ReplyDelete