‘Open Source And Ethical’ TikTok, WhatsApp And Instagram Alternatives Could Transform Social Media

[curiouschipmunk@lemmy.world]

"Mastadon"

[cyborganism@lemmy.ca]

One thing we need to mention is funding.

While BlueSky may benefit from venture capital, free (as in beer) open source projects where user data is not commercially exploited for revenue do not have the same benefit. They rely a LOT on donations for running the infrastructure and for the hours and hard work that people are putting in.

[ulrich@feddit.org]

"Sorry, I don't have WhatsApp but you can send me those photos or videos on Signal, Matrix, SimpleX, Briar, Wire, Session, Jabber, Threema, or Line."

[sayjess@lemmy.blahaj.zone]

lol wut

[madjo@feddit.nl]

The normies are trying

[solrize@lemmy.world]

They don't have email? It's like the 1980s when only nerds had email.

[ulrich@feddit.org]

Sorry, did you have a question?

[fake4000@lemmy.world]

I know. But most of these engineers are on the job and on the road 99 percent of the time. And a quick WhatsApp message is all they want.

[hendrik@palaver.p3x.de]

I hopt that'll succeed. And those are the platforms in demand. While Mastodon is losing users, and we've been stagnating for quite some time already... Pixelfed is currently going off the charts. We'll have to see whare this leads to and if it's going to last.

[grammarpolice@lemmy.world]

WhatsApp

Signal

[grammarpolice@lemmy.world]

Good luck getting anyone to download any of those

[ch00f@lemmy.world]

e…e-mail?

[macroplastic@sh.itjust.works]

Signal? Isn't that the app for drugs? /s

[jubilantjaguar@lemmy.world]

While Masturdon was ripe for the picking

[jubilantjaguar@lemmy.world]

Good point. Theoretically surmountable because Wikipedia.

But donors are going to have to be convinced that social media is a social good.

[takeda@lemm.ee]

That's my initial thought, but what do we know about who owns it?

[grammarpolice@lemmy.world]

It's owned by Brian Acton. The original founder of WhatsApp before it was sold to Meta. I'm yet to hear of controversial stories about him. Unless him being a billionaire irks you, i think it's fine.

[jubilantjaguar@lemmy.world]

Yeah but you see the point? They offer us one option. We offer them ten.

"You don't have any of them installed? Well, I don't have Whatsapp installed. So one of us is going to have to go out of our way. Why should you assume that's for me to do, just because everyone else including you behaved like an unthinking herd of sheep?" That's what I feel like saying, and occasionally do actually say.

It's a difficult conundrum. Speaking personally, but at this point resisting the Whatsapp fascism has become stubborn article of faith for me. I won't do it.

[jubilantjaguar@lemmy.world]

It’s owned by Brian Acton

No, he is a founder and a donor. It's owned by the Signal Foundation, which is a classic non-profit that seeks funding from lots of sources.

[catloaf@lemm.ee]

Yeah... But to them, why should they deal with one difficult customer when they have a dozen more that are easier to work with?