Henry Edward HardyMar 24, 2018

Really, asking "what should replace Facebook" is putting things the wrong way around.

A more interesting way to ask the question is, "what did Facebook replace."

People used to build their own websites. People used to have blogs. People used USENET which was truly distributed and un-censorable.

Facebook and Google took the open internet and open standards and monetized and made everything crappy. Enough of that. Nothing should replace Facebook, it's done, stick a fork in it.

Show threadHascobe

@hhardy01 Let's not be reductive.

Facebook works, regardless of whether you have tech abilities or disposable income.

Facebook centralises and logs communication in a way that IRC never did.

Facebook is accessible and convenient af. Any competitor has to match that.

Mar 24, 2018 at 2:42pmWeb
Show threadAgentfooMar 24, 2018
@Hascobe @hhardy01 Exactly this. I have a blog. I'm never going to convince everyone I interact with on Facebook to join me there. I'm never gonna convince my mum that she needs to make an account to talk to me there and then get her childhood friends she's reconnected with to contact her there, too. Why would they?
Show threadDan YorkDec 30, 2018
@Agentfoo @Hascobe @hhardy01 This is a big part of the challenge. Facebook has become the place where people have reconnected. Now they are there and have built a mesh of connections. It is hard to move from that well-connected space to a place where all those connections have to be rebuilt. There is a “switching cost” - and most people don’t (yet) feel the need/urgency to switch. It’s a great bit of work.
Show thread🔌💘🐶Mar 24, 2018
@Hascobe @hhardy01 Do you consider the logging to be a feature or a bug?
Show threadHenry Edward HardyMar 24, 2018

@USBloveDog @Hascobe

As a sysadmin I know everything gets logged, question is who can see it.

Show threadHascobeMar 24, 2018
@USBloveDog @hhardy01 for my personal use, a feature. It's useful to have flawless, asynchronous group conversations, or the ability to search messaging history from any device. The issue, as always, is that it's also incredibly useful to those I don't want it to be useful to.
Show threadHenry Edward HardyMar 24, 2018

@Hascobe

IRC has always used a server. And there's been bots such as eggdrop since forever. Try freenode and irissi client now.

Show threadHascobeMar 24, 2018

@hhardy01 I'm sure it's doable in some form. The problem is, it's not accessible enough for someone to go from ignorant of the technology to fully integrated, without substantive research. If I say 'join Facebook' to people, they can can find Facebook, and from there the onboarding process takes them through to completion. (Even then, the grossly tech illiterate can struggle.)

That's the barrier we need to surpass.

Show threadHenry Edward HardyNov 5, 2022

Well back in the freenode days, I thought meetbot did a better job of logging and summarizing meetings than FB. We'd meet, everyone could usefully talk, and we'd get immediate minutes and action items.

I think FB has done a lot to lock people in. The interface is usable but it hasn't improved save incrementally.

@Hascobe

Show threadShadSterlingMar 10, 2025
@hhardy01 @Hascobe IME the interface has gotten worse as they’ve turned up the lock-in. Facebook messages and groups used to send emails with message contents, so I could search within my email and find those too; now they just say someone sent a message. Facebook events used to be useful for inviting and planning, but they’ve changed it so much even if it does what I want today I can’t expect it still will tomorrow. I want something with the good features, but on open standards