Decentralized and privacy-friendly social networks
Federation
So, of all kinds of software, why did I chose to start with social networks? Because social networks has the strongest network effect, with instant messaging being second1. Using a non-free social network service is taking part in forcing your friends and families to use it.
This could be said for any social network services, except for decentralized ones, or federated ones, usually dubbed fediverse. The idea is similar to that of emails: people can use different services, yet can talk with each other seamlessly via open protocols. You can use GMail or HotMail, but if I disagree with Google and Microsoft terms of service I would still be able to send emails to you from my Disroot mail account2. Another example is mobile network service—no matter which one you choose, I’m still able to call you or send you SMS messages. This is not the case for mainstream social networks. Even if I disagree (an understatement) with Facebook’s terms of service and privacy policy, I still have to have a Facebook account in order to talk to you or interact with your posts.
So, in short, these federated social networks can not only talk to each other, using the same open protocols (the ways by which servers talk with each other). Below are some federation protocols:
ActivityPub
ActivityPub is, as of the time writing, arguably the most popular federation protocol. Related posts:
Diaspora
This section is empty because I have no experience with it. Please expand.
pump.io
This section is empty because I have no experience with it. Please expand.
Zot
This section is empty because I have no experience with it. Please expand.
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No source, just common sense. Feel free to correct me if you have source proving otherwise.
Social networks require a lot of (active) people there to be interesting. Messaging apps just requires there to be someone else there. ↩︎ -
Microsoft blocked Disroot emails and I wouldn’t be able to do this. However, the block was removed after hundreds of requests. Such blocks can happen on federated social networks as well, and it will be discussed in a later post on choosing your instance. ↩︎
This post is a part of a wiki. That means, you can contribute to it by sending me an email to huyngo+freeguide@disroot.org