It seems that the time for a facebook replacement is now, just based on the sense I have gotten. A lot of my friends, who would previously have clung onto facebook through all the terrible things it did over the years, are now looking for alternatives. The current consensus for most is joining Bluesky. I would love to be able to recommend them to the fediverse equivalent, Friendica, but it is nowhere close to ready for primetime.

So my question is this. How can we work to make friendica more user friendly and develop it’s features to a point that it can be a true facebook alternative? Or, do we need to come up with a new platform entirely, possibly one that is forked from Friendica, that has the required features. Specifically, these are the things I think need work:

  • Simplify user sign up. No one cares about servers, and I think this is one of the biggest thorns in the side of the fediverse in general. Make a single landing page, where you type in your location and will be auto assigned to a server based on the closest one to you. If one does not exist within a certain radius, a server is instantly created (details of this mechanism tbd), and a member of a dedicated team of admins will be assigned as a moderator of that server. This is just an idea, but we need to greatly simply the user sign up process and make scaling easier.
  • EDIT: Nevermind, it was an issue with the wrong version I downloaded. I did find a couple apps, but both were still in somewhat early development: Raccoon - https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/com.livefast.eattrash.raccoonforfriendica Relatica - https://gitlab.com/mysocialportal/relatica A working mobile app. There is only one app I know of that is not even in beta, and I couldn’t get it work at all. Most people will not use a site if it doesn’t have an app.
  • Clean up of basic functionalities. Default to the most intuitive and user friendly options (no delete box enabled on posts/comments that aren’t yours, infinite feed on by default, prominent option dropdown to turn on darkmode or different styles, etc). I should not be taken to someone’s page when I click the “follow” button. Following should also be a two way street, and require consent. You cannot see someone’s content on facebook unless they approve your friend request. This is how it should be on friendica. Improve groups. I see they exist, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to browse or search for them. Stop notifying me after I make a post. I know I made the post, I don’t need to be notified. Develop more appealing UI/UX overall that is easy for a layman to understand and use. Allow editing to show updates without needing to refresh the page. Etc, etc, etc.
  • Add expected functionalities. Tagging users, live videos, gifs, reaction emojis, marketplace, public events, unshare, reshare with commentary, recommend friends from contacts, etc.

I know this is a lot, but this is my honest assessment of the situation. This is why I mentioned potentially creating a new platform. What do people think? Are these changes doable within the friendica framework, or should we start from scratch? What are the thoughts on a facebook alternative in general? I definitely think there is value in enabling people to have a page on the internet that is “them”, that people can add and keep up with their life. That is the value that facebook provides, but the existing fediverse doesn’t really have such capabilities right now. How can we change that?

  • lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    11·
    5 hours ago

    Never said it was a problem. Said it was a whine yelp. Vast difference.

    And see here’s the thing:

    The issue I see is that while most nerdy tech type folks can easily wrap their heads around the concept, most lay people cannot.

    I honestly don’t get where this meme comes from. Like, I know we are now living in the tiktok generation but not even they are that stupid. They in the least get this:

    Hey fellow soccer fan. I moved over to Cartagena.
    Nice. I moved over to Atlanta.

    • Written by M. Neigh Chameleonman

    There. That’s all there’s needed to get about “servers” at the basest level, and to understand what the “subscribed” and “local” feeds are about. Grandmas already effortlessly navigate all the pathfinding needed to install suspicious betting apps disguised as videogames on their phones and you’re telling me people can’t “get” servers?

    While it makes sense to make the onboarding process easier, that shoudld not come at the cost of obviating a core and foundational step as can be our equivalent to “create your email account”. Because when remove your user from it, then you’ll have to either do guesswork, or “dictate” where people “should” fall into. And we both know both paths lead to enshittification, to centralization, to AI, etc.

    • korendian@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      5 hours ago

      We’re going to have to agree to disagree here, because it seems you’re misconstruing what I’m proposing and potentially just arguing for the sake of arguing.