We MUST have a replacement for Facebook.
Link the following to your FB, ask your FB friends to find you there and to do the same. Right now FB lets Diaspora users link to FB profiles but as Diaspora grows to be significant, expect FB to break links. So set up Diaspora, link to FB and just let it sit there while you continue to use your FB until such time as a clean break from FB can be made.
Diaspora
The platform Diaspora is a social world online that puts your data back in your own hands, according to its own slogan. Its range of functions is similar to those of Facebook. Users can publish status updates, share posts and images, and comment on other people’s posts. And just like on Facebook, you can control who gets to see your own posts as well. Diaspora uses hashtags to order posts, meaning that you can use these to find like-minded people who share your interests. Linking Diaspora to your Facebook profile is also possible, and the software has its own chat function. Diaspora is also an open source project.
One of the main features that Diaspora prides itself on is its decentralization. This is to do with its technical background: the platform consists of many different networks, known as pods. User data isn’t collected and stored centrally by the provider, instead the infrastructure is distributed by users themselves, with data carried by these so-called pods. If you have good technical know-how, you can actually operate your own pod, which essentially functions as a server. This means that you can be certain that your private data remains private and in your own hands. Less technically gifted users can use ‘open pods’ in the network instead.
With around 50,000 new users joining in the past 6 months, Diaspora is certainly only a very small drop in the ocean compared to Facebook. But its decentralized system and the control over your own data that comes with it makes Diaspora a definite option for users concerned about data protection. Lastly, Diaspora is completely ad-free.