If you’re in search of the best alternatives to Facebook, then you’re not alone in this search. People are becoming more aware of what Facebook is doing with their personal information.
Over the last few years, Facebook has amassed massive amounts of data about all of its users, which is alarming. By downloading your data zip file, you can view exactly what information Facebook holds on you.
Everything in your phone, from images and texts to the mobile phone numbers of everyone. They also have access to all of your text messages from your phone! It’s mind-boggling how much they have.
Because of this, a vast number of people are now looking for Facebook alternatives where their privacy is respected and private information is never shared or sold to other corporations or organizations, especially considering the current Facebook CA controversy.
You can now utilize a variety of social networks and messaging apps instead of Facebook and they have a huge market.
Some of these Facebook competitors provide fewer advertisements, better data security, and even additional functions and capabilities that aren’t currently available to Facebook users.
Let’s show you the very best alternatives to Facebook and see what you hope to achieve.
Meanwhile, let’s see if Facebook really has competitors and if these alternatives are safe for users.
Does Facebook have a Competitor?
Yes, Facebook do not just have a competitor, but competitors.
However, Pinterest is Facebook’s most significant competitor, ranking second in terms of visits in the United States with about 30% of the market share, trailing only Facebook with 56%.
Pinterest, which was founded in 2010, is a platform for discovering visual ideas and is the world’s fastest-growing social network.
It employs 2,217 people and generated $1.14 billion in sales in 2019, compared to Facebook’s around $71 billion and 45,000 employees.
This value might seem poor, but with the recent 66% decline of trust in Facebook, Pinterest stands a greater chance of overthrowing Facebook.
Are there Safe Alternatives to Facebook?
Typically, most alternative to Facebook existing are safe.
Due to the insecurity with regards to people’s privacy protection from Facebook, a lot of social networks are on the rise, vying to be the next big thing in social media.
These alternative social networks are open and willing to take in Facebook’s digital refugees.
So, as per being safe to trust your data with them, these alternatives are rooting for it.
However, at the time, there’s no complete equivalent, so the best you can do is utilize anti-tracking add-ons like Facebook Container, turn on Messenger encryption, figure out where your data is going, and try to stay private while transferring what you can to alternative services.
For individuals considering switching social networks due to privacy and security concerns or a desire to try something new and intriguing, this article presents a selection of great alternatives to Facebook worth exploring.
Best Social Network Alternatives to Facebook
Competing social networks, regardless of how wonderful their features are, are frequently under-populated because of a lack of critical mass.
The Facebook alternatives listed below, however small in comparison, are some of your best possibilities if you’re trying to diversify your social networking.
Let’s see how promising they’re.
1. MeWe – Best Facebook Alternative for Groups
MeWe is currently the most workable of Facebook competitors, based on sheer numbers.
As extreme groups look for new platforms with less control, MeWe, a social network program that promotes itself as a secure and private alternative to Facebook, has garnered 2.5 million new users in the last week, according to the company.
While only a small percentage of the app’s 8 million registered users are active, it’s enough to support many groups and keep the app running.
It includes many of the same features as Facebook, such as groups, private conversations, tagging, content permissions, and even a few extras like cloud storage and personalized profiles for different groups.
However, the extra cloud storage, encrypted chat, live voice and video calling, pages, dark mode, and other features need a monthly charge. Because MeWe is ad-free and does not track or sell your data, this is primarily how it makes money.
If you’re coming from Facebook, the app may not wow you, but it seems full and doesn’t have a steep learning curve.
Although the UI and user counts place it among the top Facebook competitors, it is not open source or decentralized, which may turn off individuals who don’t want to trust a single company.
Features
- Users: 8 million total, up to 2.8 million active.
- Has no ads
- Is not decentralized
- Available on: Android, iOS, Web, Windows, Mac
2. Minds – Most-Promising Facebook Alternative
Minds is an open-source, privacy-focused, community-moderated Facebook alternative that has attracted at least 1.25 million users (as of 2018; current user counts are unavailable).
It also features a decentralized governance system in which randomly selected users can vote on content moderation choices using an Ethereum-based token to reward content providers and manage a digital economy within the network.
In other words, we can say that Minds, a “Crypto Social Network” that went public in 2015, has grown in popularity as a viable alternative to Facebook.
Minds compares favorably to Facebook in terms of features.
You may create groups, send messages, post, comment, and browse a chronological newsfeed, among other things. New users will find the UI easy to navigate, particularly if they come from Facebook.
In summary, Minds is built on the principles of privacy, openness, liberty, and democratization.
Features
- Has 1.25+ million, 105,000+ active users
- Has no ads
- It’s partially decentralized
- Available on: Android, iOS, web
3. Twitter – Best Facebook Alternative for News
Have you decided to leave Facebook in search of a new social media platform with a strong news focus? You can’t beat Twitter, which has over 300 million monthly active users who tweet about what’s going on in the globe.
News stories nearly typically break first on Twitter, then on Facebook and other social media platforms. Due to the large number of media professionals that use the service, users of this social network have the unusual opportunity to connect directly with editors and journalists.
Twitter may not be ideal for keeping up with family members, but it is unrivalled when it comes to keeping up with the latest news.
4. Mastodon – Top Facebook Alternatives like Twitter
Mastodon wins a slot among the top Facebook alternatives because to its relatively large audience, excellent decentralization, user-friendly design, and community moderation processes, while being most comparable to Twitter in terms of feel and functionality.
Even though Mastodon was only introduced in 2017, it has quickly established itself as one of the best Facebook alternatives. All thanks to the community’s relatively healthy population, strong devolution, user-friendly interface, and community management structure!
It’s part of the “Fediverse,” a wider umbrella of services that works on an open-source software standard that allows anyone to host computers and manage their own data.
Mastodon has no ads, the feed is totally chronological and unsorted, and the system does not track your activity. Unless you wish to set up your own instance, you must still have faith in the person hosting your data.
Features
- Users: 2.9 – 4.4 million, 1.2 million active
- Has no ads
- It is decentralized
- Available on: Android, iOS, Web, Windows, Mac
5. Diaspora
Diaspora is one of the first Facebook alternatives (it launched in 2010), and it’s open-source and free to use and host as part of the Fediverse.
Users can select a “pod” in which to keep their account data and create an account. They can interact with any other network user, independent of the host location, once their data is on that server.
Meanwhile, it has similar privacy requirements to Mastodon, in that there is no advertising, monitoring, or data-selling, but you must still trust the owner of your pod to some extent. If you want complete control, you may always host it on your own server.
Features
- Users: 800,000 total, 20,000 monthly
- Has no ads
- It is decentralized
- On: Android, Web
6. Vero – Coolest FB Alternative Social Network
Vero’s chronological timeline, which displays all of your feed’s postings in order of when they were published, is one of the most appealing features. This is like what Facebook used to do back in the day.
Its ambitions to switch to a subscription model for all new members will add to the feeling of exclusivity.
Current users don’t have to worry because anyone who joined up before the change will get a free account for life.
Features
- It’s Partially decentralized
7. Instagram – Best FB Alternative for Friends and Family
Switching to Instagram full-time isn’t a bad idea if you’re getting rid of Facebook as part of a goal to limit the number of apps on your phone or the number of websites you visit every day.
The nicest aspect is that most Instagram users refrain from discussing politics, world events, or religion. It’s all good.
But, if you’re leaving Facebook because you’re worried about your privacy and personal information, Instagram isn’t for you. It’s now inextricably linked to Facebook, so any issues you had with data collecting on Facebook will also apply to Instagram.
Features
- It’s partially decentralized
8. LinkedIn – Best Facebook Alternative for Work
You’ve probably heard of LinkedIn as a trustworthy platform for job seekers and recruiters. While LinkedIn isn’t a great replacement to Facebook for family gossip, it is a good place to start.
It’s a fantastic social media platform for anyone interested in posting and reading about businesses, finance, real estate, and other business-related topics. It’s also a great alternative for people who used Facebook Marketplace to find or post job openings.
Features
- Has no ads
- It’s Partially decentralized
- Available on: Android, iOS, Web
Conclusion
When you’re looking for Facebook alternatives, the most difficult thing you’ll notice is how unusably desolate they all appear in contrast.
As a result, going with a group is probably the ideal transition strategy. Consider using something like MeWe or Minds as your online gathering place if you’re organizing a community or meetup.
If you only need to keep up with a small group of people, very much any of the options listed above would suffice.
