Facebook has become one of the largest and most influential social media platforms in the world, with over 2.8 billion monthly active users as of Q2 2021. However, in recent years, Facebook has faced backlash due to various controversies around privacy, data usage, and the spread of misinformation on its platform. This has led many users to look for good alternatives to Facebook that offer similar social networking features without some of the issues associated with the platform.
What are some key factors to look for in a Facebook alternative?
When evaluating alternatives to Facebook, here are some key factors to consider:
- Privacy – Does the platform have robust privacy controls and policies to protect user data? This has been a major concern with Facebook.
- Data usage – Does the company collect and share user data responsibly? Facebook has faced criticism for its data handling practices.
- Ads – Is advertising handled in a non-intrusive way? Facebook relies heavily on ads for revenue.
- Misinformation – Does the platform have policies and methods to limit the spread of fake news and misinformation? This has been an issue on Facebook.
- User experience – Is the platform easy to use and well-designed? Facebook sets a high bar for UX.
- Community – Does the platform have an active user base and ways for users to connect? Facebook’s large network effects are hard to replicate.
Finding an alternative that checks all these boxes is difficult. Here are some of the top options that come closest for those looking to move away from Facebook.
Top Facebook Alternatives
MeWe
MeWe bills itself as the “Next-Gen Social Network” focused on privacy, no ads, and no targeted data mining of users. It launched in 2016 and has steadily built up its user base to over 15 million worldwide. Some key facts about MeWe:
- Offers standard social media features like news feeds, messaging, photo sharing, groups, events, etc.
- No ads – MeWe is completely ad-free and relies on optional paid subscriptions for revenue
- Strong privacy protections – does not sell or share user data
- User base is still small compared to Facebook, but growing
- Polls and challenges help drive engagement
- Groups and forums around interests such as photography, travel, music, etc.
For those looking for an ad-free, privacy-focused Facebook alternative, MeWe presents a compelling option.
Minds
Minds is an open source social media platform that launched in 2015. It emphasizes privacy, security, and earning money from content. Some key points about Minds:
- Uses encrypted, open sourced code for privacy
- Offers a crypto token system that lets users earn money from posts & engagement
- Allows anonymous accounts and anonymous browsing of public content
- Has some controversies around hate speech and extremist content
- Smaller user base around 3 million monthly actives
- Allows pornography and some explicit content
Minds offers features to appeal to the privacy-conscious and monetization-focused, but its controversial content and small community are drawbacks.
Mastodon
Mastodon is an open source, decentralized social network that launched in 2016. Here are some key facts:
- Not a single platform – consists of independent servers joined in a loose federation
- Lets users post short messages, images, audio, and videos
- Focus on chronological timelines rather than news feeds
- Has anti-abuse policies but avoids censorship of political content
- Total user base over 3 million across all servers
- Steep learning curve for understanding the federated network
For those looking for an open source, non-corporate alternative to Facebook, Mastodon has appeal. But it can be difficult to understand for new users.
Snapchat
While not a direct Facebook alternative, Snapchat provides social networking features in a different way. Some details:
- Focuses on sharing photos, videos, and messages that disappear after viewing
- Younger user base – over 50% are 18-24 years old
- Creative tools like lenses and filters for engaging content
- New feature called Spotlight promotes best user content
- 330 million monthly active users, smaller than Facebook but very engaged
- Revenue comes from ads targeted based on user data
Snapchat offers a more visual, ephemeral social experience tailored to a younger audience. But it still relies on targeted ads and collects user data.
While more focused on news than friends, Twitter does offer some social networking features. Key details on Twitter:
- Allows short posts of up to 280 characters called tweets
- Follow other users to see their tweet updates in timeline
- Use hashtags and @mentions to interact
- Over 300 million monthly active users
- Increasing issue with fake accounts and misinformation
- Ad revenue funds operations but not as intrusive as Facebook
Twitter lacks some deeper Facebook features like groups and events, but provides a popular alternative for those looking to reduce political misinformation and targeted ads.
WT Social
WT Social is a new social media platform started by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. It is still in limited beta but aims to challenge Facebook. Key details:
- Focused on safety, neutrality, transparency
- Will use community based moderation to combat misinformation
- Will have Facebook-like news feeds and groups
- Initial user base under 100,000 in beta launch
- Hopes to fund operations through small optional user fees rather than ads
WT Social is promising for its ideals but still unproven at this early stage without a full launch. It warrants watching as an alternative.
Conclusion
When looking at alternatives, no platform is likely to replicate all aspects of Facebook exactly. And new platforms aimed at replacing Facebook like WT Social are still emerging. But options like MeWe, Minds, Mastodon, Snapchat, and Twitter each provide different types of functionality for those seeking Facebook alternatives based on factors like privacy, data usage, ads, user experience, and community.
Selecting a good alternative depends on each user’s priorities. But overall the desire for more control over data and privacy along with dissatisfaction with ads and misinformation content seem to be driving factors for users exploring new platforms. Facebook’s dominance shows signs of weakening, but it remains the world’s largest social network for the foreseeable future.