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We should replace Facebook with personal websites

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Re: We should replace Facebook with personal websites

#221

Post by arandr0x »

jasode wrote: post #180
solatic wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that doesn't mean RSS readers can replace Facebook because that technology is missing a "real names" reverse directory lookup database But that's the point, isn't it? Personal websites isn't what will "solve the customer's problem", persé, but it is what will allow Facebook to no longer be irreplaceable, which is the real reason why people stay on the platform. The question isn't whether personal websites can repla…

> Personal websites [...] is what will allow Facebook to no longer be irreplaceable, which is the real reason why people stay on the platform. No, you're making a common mistake of looking at the surface level of what Facebook shows to users (the so-called "webpage"). Therefore, the seemingly "obvious" solution to beat Facebook is -- Everybody Has Personal Websites. Since I've seen many smart techies and programmers…

This is interesting. Literally the one thing that prevents me from using social networks is the real names database. I refuse to give my real name so I don't get the full experience other users do. I would never use facebook, but I would be interested in an anonymous distributed 1:1 social network (like email, without servers). Currently I do use email and minimize my exposure by changing addresses from time to time, however, I'd prefer a full control version. Running an email server is too hard.

Back in the old days I was on IRC. I loved IRC. It was anonymous and everyone could have their own server and you could have individual chat and direct file share instead of broadcasting to everyone. But it's not asynchronous. I would do this thing where I would send my IP and a passcode to my IRC friends and with the IP and credentials they would have access to a specific folder on my home server. I put occasionally a diary or some photos on there and they could leave me messages. (OK it was a very crude solution. I was very young.) I liked it because it did not commit me to having the stuff up all the time but at the same time it wasn't gone forever if I didn't get to it right then.

I realize I am something of an anti-market and nobody would find my dream social network viable. Maybe I should make one for myself. I only have a dozen people I talk to really so there's no "all my friends are here" effect to consider for me.

Re: We should replace Facebook with personal websites

#222

Post by Freezerburnt »

veddox wrote: post #54
Freezerburnt wrote: post #18

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Dispora* yet: https://diasporafoundation.org/ I looked into it a while ago and it was a little cumbersome to set up, but I really like the idea.

Did that ever take off? I haven't heard about it in ages... There's quite a bit of talk about Mastodon lately, but not about Diaspora...

Hmmm. Doing a little research myself now and I think there's a whole bunch of different servers but they all seem to communicate? Dispora* is just one of them.

Re: We should replace Facebook with personal websites

#223

Post by rootusrootus »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #210

The alternative, now that network bandwidth isn't in the 56Kbps range and sometimes on and sometimes off, is doable. If you look at the "end" game, imagine that everyone has a machine at their house that they can access locally in their web browser. It has easy tools for posting updates and pictures. When you create a "profile" on it, you can choose to upload that profile to a well known repository of profiles. There…

That machine will need to be an appliance, something like a Google Home or Amazon Echo style device, and your local router should transparently proxy www.facebook.com to it.

I'm only sorta kidding. HN is really good at creating solutions that seem totally reasonable to other HN readers but would fall on their face in the wider market of Uncle Bob, Aunt Lois, and Grandma Pearl. You know, the real customer base.

Re: We should replace Facebook with personal websites

#224

Post by rootusrootus »

What I would rather see is something that works pretty much exactly like Facebook, but paid for, no advertisements, and total privacy. Aside from convincing people it's worth paying $25/year for the same functionality they currently get for "free" I think that's the closest to a viable option.

If Facebook hadn't lost so much trust already, they could try to jump ahead in that game by offering this service themselves. Pay us what we typically would earn off you from ads, and we'll turn off the ads and disable the tracking.

Re: We should replace Facebook with personal websites

#225

Post by josephcohen »

Facebook is now many things, but when it started it was about identity: this is who I am, this is who I know, this is what I care about.

As Facebook has expanded, it's become a mostly passive experience. This is a byproduct of Facebook's business model, which is to sell other people's time. Like any business, it's incentivized to maximized its inventory, which in this case is time spent on Facebook properties.

People are waking up to the fact that Facebook doesn't add value to your life, it extracts value by consuming your time.

There is another way. You don't need to be the product.

This is why I created Universe (YC W'18), a new kind of tool that allows everyone to build their place on the internet—their own website, with their own domain, and their own design.

The internet should look more like a bustling, erratic metropolis and less like a centrally-planned suburb. To do that, it needs to be built by everyone.

Check out Universe and let me know what you think: http://apple.co/Universe

----

Some sites made on Universe: http://showcase.onuniverse.com

More about our story: http://fastcompany.com/90174165/the-future-of-web-design-doe...

Re: We should replace Facebook with personal websites

#226

Post by martythemaniak »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #210

The alternative, now that network bandwidth isn't in the 56Kbps range and sometimes on and sometimes off, is doable. If you look at the "end" game, imagine that everyone has a machine at their house that they can access locally in their web browser. It has easy tools for posting updates and pictures. When you create a "profile" on it, you can choose to upload that profile to a well known repository of profiles. There…

I had a very similar idea, except the machine you're referring to here is your phone. Once you restrict yourself to text and low-res pictures, your phone can be your server.

A single app would let you edit your profile and post items to a feed. This includes a web server. You can also use it to view friends' profiles and chronological updates from their feeds. All data lives on your phone, fetching updates happens by one phone connecting to another phone.

Downsides are that it probably needs some kind of centralized discoverability/listing. Bandwidth would be a problem for folks on crappy data plans, but maybe not so much - you're only serving text and low-res pictures to several dozen people. You can also do stuff like waiting to respond to requests when the phone goes on wifi.

Re: We should replace Facebook with personal websites

#228

Post by martythemaniak »

rootusrootus wrote: post #223
ChuckMcM wrote: post #210

The alternative, now that network bandwidth isn't in the 56Kbps range and sometimes on and sometimes off, is doable. If you look at the "end" game, imagine that everyone has a machine at their house that they can access locally in their web browser. It has easy tools for posting updates and pictures. When you create a "profile" on it, you can choose to upload that profile to a well known repository of profiles. There…

That machine will need to be an appliance, something like a Google Home or Amazon Echo style device, and your local router should transparently proxy www.facebook.com to it. I'm only sorta kidding. HN is really good at creating solutions that seem totally reasonable to other HN readers but would fall on their face in the wider market of Uncle Bob, Aunt Lois, and Grandma Pearl. You know, the real customer base.

The problem with Uncle Pearl and Grandma Bob is that you're trying to deliver advanced features AND ease of use. That does require large centralized apps such as facebook.

If you ditch either of those requirements, you can probably deliver a solid product.

Re: We should replace Facebook with personal websites

#229

Post by dccoolgai »

No one here has mentioned Solid yet, which I find odd given the topic and the volume of replies. It has some technical problems still (like 500 friends of friends requiring 500 separate http requests) but it really promises to solve what the author is complaining about. I was skeptical of TBL after the DRM debacle but he really does seem to be trying to do right with this proposal and I wish more people would pay attention.

Re: We should replace Facebook with personal websites

#230

Post by whereistom »

josephcohen wrote: post #225

Facebook is now many things, but when it started it was about identity: this is who I am, this is who I know, this is what I care about. As Facebook has expanded, it's become a mostly passive experience. This is a byproduct of Facebook's business model, which is to sell other people's time . Like any business, it's incentivized to maximized its inventory, which in this case is time spent on Facebook properties. Peopl…

Wow this is sick! Excited to give it a try. Why don't more people know about y'all?
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