I social network alternativi - Le Alternative -

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As requested ¹ here we are with an article about alternative social networks. It will mainly be a summary article of what we have already done for some individual social networks such as Mastodon, PeerTube, Funkwhale, Mobilizon And Lemmy.

If you want to jump right into alternative social networks without reading our introduction:
– Mastodon (alternative to Twitter)
– PeerTube (alternative to YouTube)
– Mobilizon (alternative to Facebook Events)
– Funkwhale (music and podcast social networks)
– Friendica (alternative to Facebook)
– Pixelfed (alternative to Instagram)
– Lemmy (alternative to Reddit)
– WriteFreely (to publish blogs)
– Pleroma (microblogging similar to Twitter And Mastodon)
– Misskey (another alternative to Mastodon, Pleroma And Twitter)
– Matrix (alternative to Telegram and WhatsApp)
– XMPP (alternative to Telegram and WhatsApp)
– Owncast (alternative to Twitch)
– BookWyrm (alternative to Goodreads)

As you may have already guessed, unlike other services where, as you know, we believe a lot in compromises, when we talk about social networks we find that some conditions are fundamental: Open source and free software, the decentralization and the use of open protocols. Don't be scared if you don't know some of these words, we will explain everything to you shortly.

Alternative social networks: let's get to know them

Obviously we try to be realistic: we know well that those who use social networks have a reason wants to find and communicate with other people. This is why we don't think it's easy or possible, especially for important disseminators or youtubers, abandon mainstream social media altogether for alternative ones. What we often propose, in fact, is to combine the most famous social networks with alternative ones. Start getting to know them, try them.

In fact, we believe it is important be there, to demonstrate that another virtual world it's possible. We therefore invite everyone to be present Also about these alternatives. In the meantime, we continue our work of convincing famous people ².

What do we mean by alternative social networks?

So in this article we will not deal with proprietary alternative social networks. Because we think that sooner or later, for an endless series of reasons, they all end up doing more or less the same end. Some more and some less obviously and with the necessary proportions.

Therefore, net of ideological or political positions, in this article we will not talk about alternative social networks or at least less mainstream For example MeWe, Minds, Pinterest, Clubhouse or Discord.

We believe that, especially with regards to communication between people, the above requirements are important and fundamental. As always we will try to simplify everything by trying not to give wrong notions but at the same time trying to summarize as much as possible to create less confusion in the heads of those who read us:

Open source and free software: The source code of the project must be accessible, examineable and modifiable by anyone. In short, one that respects them four essential freedoms;
decentralization: it is important that there is not just one server that manages everything and where only one person decides the fate of the platform. It is important that power is divided into many small or medium-sized entities that can talk to each other; only in this way can the centralization of power be avoided. command;
open protocols: that is, the “way” in which people speak to each other. To make you understand the importance of this aspect, emails use standard protocols and are still here among us years later and two emails written by different providers can still talk to each other without limits. Imagine what a nightmare if to send an email to an @gmail.com address you also had to have a Google account. Well, exactly this happens with WhatsApp.

The Italian fediverse

All three conditions must be present and there are many alternative social networks that respect them. There are also messaging applications with these requirements. In Italy there are many interesting realities in the fediverse and you can read this interesting article to learn more about them.

Learn more about the Italian fedeverse

The fediverse

The risk of talking about these topics with people is that confuse decentralization with blockchain therefore thinking that you are talking about cryptocurrencies or web3. But we think rather about the web0. The concepts may seem, and in some respects even be, very similar but let's see together what we are really talking about.

All the applications we mentioned at the beginning, except Matrix And XMPP, are part of the so-called fediverse. The fediverse is a set of federated servers which, although independent, can communicate with each other thanks to the communication protocols they use. The most used one is the protocol Activity Pub: one W3C standards.

Over the years, many software have been created that are part of the fediverse and therefore allow intercommunication.

The difference with traditional social networks

Unlike what happens with traditional social networks, when you register on a federated social network you will have a complete address, a bit like what happens with emails. To understand better:

you can find us on Twitter twitter.com/le_alternative and anyone on Twitter will have an address similar to this;
on Mastodon you can find us on mastodon.uno/@lealternative. As with emails, which we all now know and know how to use, there is a username (@lealternative) and a domain/Instance (@mastodon.uno).

Just like when you give an email address to someone or someone, when you give your address on the fediverse it must be complete with username and domain. So it's not very complex, it's just different.

One of the most fascinating features of the fediverse is that if, for example, you sign up on Mastodon from your timeline you will be able to follow and interact with all the profiles of the others federated social networks!

Let's try to explain ourselves better with a comparison that we think is understandable to anyone: it's as if a Twitter user follows a user's posts on Facebook and Reddit and can even interact with them directly from Twitter.

Another very important and interesting feature of social networks such as Mastodon for example is that one's timeline (one's homepage, practically) is not marked by an algorithm nor by the vices/ambitions of the CEO on duty. The timeline is as it should be, that is, in pure chronological order and not of virality.

The list of alternative social networks

We will now try to make a list of the social networks that are part of the fediverse. We give priority to those on which we are present and therefore know best. They don't necessarily have to be better. This is not an exhaustive list but only of the social networks that we consider most interesting and those with the most life.

Mastodon

It is probably the most famous software of all. According to Wikipedia ³ it's a social network Of microblogging decentralized that allows you to publish short messages. In fact It's a lot like Twitter albeit with some small differences such as the length of the posts. We talked about it in depth in our article.

As explained previously, there is no "one Mastodon site to register" but there are many, more or less all interconnected with each other. Here you will find a list of instances, that is, of servers that host Mastodon, where you can register.

Applications to use Mastodon:

Android: pending from the official application you can use Tusky (F-Droid), Huskies (F-Droid) or Fedilab (F-Droid). The official application is available in beta for all Patreons;
iOS: the official application Mastodon for iPhone it works very well. Alternatively you can try Metatext.

Our account on Mastodon: mastodon.uno/@lealternative

PeerTube

It is theethical and decentralized alternative to YouTube. Also in this, as for the other federated networks, you can for example follow a PeerTube channel from your Mastodon timeline. All you need to do, for example, is search @loyal alternatives and you will find us.

It is also very interesting because it uses p2p to require as few resources as possible from the server ⁴. Even in this case they exist various Italian instances and there is also a Search engine global for all PeerTube instances: Sepia Search. Recently it also allows the management of live broadcasts with dedicated applications.

Applications for using PeerTube:

Android: you can use NewPipe, or Thorium (F-Droid). For live shows you can use PeerTube Live (F-Droid);
iOS: There are no applications for iOS.

Our account on PeerTube: peertube.uno/@lealternative

Mobilizon

In our opinion, this is one of the most underrated but most interesting alternatives of the fediverse. Mobilizon (here you will find our dedicated article) allows you to create and organize events for free. It is therefore a real one alternative to Facebook Events. There are many instances, but the largest Italian one is managed by devol and it's Mobilizon.it.

Applications to use Mobilizon:

Android: the application exists Mobilizon (F-Droid);
iOS: There are no applications for iOS.

Funkwhale

Social network dedicated to all people music lovers. Thanks to Funkwhale anyone can publish music under a Creative Commons license and also manage podcasts. Also of Funkwhale there is a our article and you can find it here. As with other federated social networks, you can follow Funkwhale accounts on your timeline through other platforms without necessarily signing up to Funkwhale. Exist several instances but even in this case the largest Italian one is managed by devol and you can find it on Funkwhale.it.

Applications to use Funkwhale:

Android: you can use Get or, up Funkwhale for Android;
iOS: you can try using SubStreamer or play:Sub Music Streamer.

Friendica

Screenshots Friendica

It is one of the alternatives that we know less about but we know that it has enormous potential. It is a very interesting decentralized social network because it allows you to express longer and more detailed opinions not limited by the few characters of Mastodon. You can create groups and follow other channels through too RSS as well as obviously most of the social networks of the fediverse.

They exist in this case too many servers to register on, one of the most interesting Italian instances is the one called Polyverse.

Applications to use Friendica:

Android: you can try Friendica (F-Droid) or Fedilab (F-Droid);
iOS: There are no applications for iOS.

Pixelfed

It's almost one copy of Instagram, also decentralized and federated like the previous ones. It is really in its infancy and therefore contains several bugs, however it can already be used well without major problems. They exist here too many servers to register on (all generally connected to each other) but the largest Instance Italian is managed, think about it, come on devol and you can find it on pixelfed.uno.

Applications to use Pixelfed:

Android: you can use PixelDroid or Fedilab (F-Droid);
iOS: There are no applications for iOS.

Our account on Pixelfed: pixelfed.uno/@lealternative

Lemmy

It is one of the alternatives that we have become most fond of recently, so much so that we created our own server together with Polyverse called Feddit.it. Lemmy is a decentralized social network very similar to Reddit that allows you to create communities. Unfortunately, at the moment there are no Italian servers but we hope to be able to give a push in this direction also thanks to the community that is slowly being created. It would indeed be very nice to be able to have aInstance Italian dedicated to the world of privacy andOpen source.

This too, like Pixelfed, is still in beta version and therefore is not free from defects. The Federation (Limited) with Mastodon And Pleroma for example it has existed for a very short time ⁵.

Applications to use Lemmy:

Android: you can use Lemmur (F-Droid) or Jerboa for Lemmy (F-Droid);
iOS: you can use Remmel for Lemmy.

Our account on Lemmy: feddit.it /c/lealternatives

WriteFreely

We know little about this service but it has always seemed very interesting to us. In practice it is a federated blog so, as with the previous ones, you can follow the blogs you want from your Mastodon timeline, for example. One of the Italian instances of WriteFreely the most interesting is that of devol call noblogo.org.

Following a WriteFreely blog on the fediverse is very simple: for example you can follow this blog looking for: @blog@blog.getprivacy.it

Applications for using WriteFreely:

Android: you can use Write.as – blog and journal but only for theInstance managed on write.as;
iOS: exists WriteFreely.

Pleroma and Misskey

We don't know these two platforms very well. They are both similar in some ways to Mastodon. However, we do not know of any Italian instances so if you know of any please let us know. For Pleroma you find here a list of servers while for Misskey you find a list here! As mentioned, not knowing them and not using them, any comments are welcome!

Applications to use Pleroma or Misskey:

Android: for Pleroma you can use Huskies (F-Droid), Fedilab (F-Droid) or Fedi for Pleroma and Mastodon;
iOS: exists Fedi for Pleroma and Mastodon.

Alternative messaging applications

Okay, since we're now at it, we'll close the article by also suggesting you use decentralized applications for instant messaging. Also in this case, as in the previous one, it is important to be there because otherwise it is almost impossible to convince other people to use these platforms.

Why Use Decentralized Messaging Applications? Because proprietary applications like Signal or Telegram are exceptional and wonderful and we often sing their praises but they both suffer from similar problems:

they are proprietary applications that can command and decide the future of the application without asking permission from anyone (even if Signal is owned by a non-profit ⁶),
they are not decentralized so even if you are not obliged to use their applications (especially for Telegram) you are obliged to use their servers;
both suffer from the so-called lock in: after convincing you to enter and use their applications they can introduce any changes and you will have difficulty getting out because all your friends will use it. Example for Signal: introduced a cryptocurrency for payments and not everyone liked this. Yet no one could do anything about it ⁷. Example for Telegram: introduced advertising on the channels without giving any freedom of movement to the managers of the channels themselves ⁸.

Signal and Telegram: good compromises but…

In short, we still recommend it Signal And Telegram as alternatives because they are impossible to ignore, they are decent compromises but they are not the final goal we would like to achieve.

As with alternative social networks, in this case too we believe that thanks to decentralization (which also has some rules to follow to avoid falling into the lock-in trap) many of the problems of modern social media can be solved. An example? If a server decides to implement a feature that you consider unwanted or if its administrator behaves unethically, you can simply shut down and move to another server without losing the possibility of communicating with your friends, colleagues, colleagues and relatives.

The most used open messaging protocols

Matrix

It is a recent protocol that attempts to replace protocols such as XMPP And IRC and solve the associated problems ⁹. It is very interesting and its interoperability is truly exceptional: think for example that thanks to a bridge of Matrix the our Telegram group can interact with one Matrix room thus allowing the communication exchange between two different protocols. There's no denying that we are Matrix fans and which we hope can be used as much as possible as an alternative messaging application.

There are different servers on which to register and the same concept of the fediverse applies here too: you will not only have a nickname but also a domain. For example the author of this article is @skariko:matrix.org.

It is possible to create end-to-end encrypted communications and groups and for some time now they have also been enabled Spaces which allow you to recreate an entire ecosystem made up of themed groups and chats. Thanks to Matrix it is also possible to carry out calls and video calls.

Server to register on:

Matrix.org, is the official server of the Matrix project;
Mozilla, the Matrix server of the Mozilla foundation;
Aria Network, public server for Matrix offered by Aria Network;
tchncs, funded by donors, offers several services including Matrix.

Applications for using Matrix:

Android: you can use Element (F-Droid), FluffyChat (F-Droid) or SchildiChat (F-Droid);
iOS: exists Element.

XMPP

We conclude this long article on alternative social networks by talking aboutimmortal XMPP. Just think that it is the protocol on which WhatsApp was initially based ¹⁰ and also many other Big Tech like Google, AOL and even Facebook they used it ¹¹. Until they probably realized that locking users inside their application would allow them to earn more money without completely caring about the common good. That is, the need to allow people to talk about themselves regardless of which application they use.

XMPPdespite his age, he is still alive and well. There are literally hundreds of servers to join. Here, in the section Chat/XMPP Server find a list of sites where you can sign up. A little further down you will find a list of the many available applications to converse with the XMPP protocol.

Server to register on:

Disroot, in addition to emails, a user for XMPP is also created;
tchncs, funded by donors, offers several services including XMPP;
EXIT project, Italian activists who offer various services;
Movement, Instance with its own application (F-Droid) which allows you to use the service as a microblogging.

Applications for using XMPP:

Android: you can use Conversations (F-Droid) or Blabber (F-Droid);
iOS: they exist for example Siskin IM And Monal IM.

Italian public groups

There are also some public groups in Italian. The ones you suggested to us ¹² I am:

Owncast and BookWyrm

You suggested it to us ¹³ these two software we know little about. Owncast And BookWyrm are respectively the alternatives to Twitch and Goodreads. Both are federated with the various Fediverse software such as Mastodon and similar. They just started but they promise well.

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