Facebook Alternatives: Other Secure Social Networks You Could Switch To

Facebook's new, more permissive privacy policy has triggered a backlash among users, who are frustrated by how much and how widely their personal information can be shared.

Some dissatisfied users are calling for a mass exodus from the site on "Quit Facebook Day," while others are organizing a Facebook protest to call attention to the new privacy controls.

Although Facebook is still the US's biggest online social network, it's not the only option.

With suggestions from our readers, we've put together a guide to fourteen Facebook alternatives--other social networking sites that, in some cases, offer better privacy protections.

Check them out, vote for your favorite, and send us your suggestions for other alternatives to Facebook.

 

Is there a social networking site you'd recommend as an alternative to Facebook? Tell us why!

Alternatives To Facebook

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Pip.io

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Pip.io lets users define their audience as loosely or as broadly as they choose. In the company's own words, "Pip.io helps us organize the people we know so that we can say what we want to who we want." Users can choose to make contacts "bi-directional," allowing for back-and-forth communication, or "uni-directional," which allows communication in only one direction and blocks personal messaging. Users can create invite-only environments called Rooms, where a private feed is established and cannot be viewed by outsiders the way Facebook Pages can be. What's more, posts made on Pip.io have no character limit and can contain in-line media (unlike Twitter). Plus, the user Interface is clean, simple and easy to use. The downside: It's a new venture, so there aren't many people using it yet and it doesn't allow cross-platform communications, so you'll have to establish a whole new account and a new contacts list.

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Pip.io lets users define their audience as loosely or as broadly as they choose. In the company's own words, "Pip.io helps us organize the people we know so that we can say what we want to who we want." Users can choose to make contacts "bi-directional," allowing for back-and-forth communication, or "uni-directional," which allows communication in only one direction and blocks personal messaging. Users can create invite-only environments called Rooms, where a private feed is established and cannot be viewed by outsiders the way Facebook Pages can be. What's more, posts made on Pip.io have no character limit and can contain in-line media (unlike Twitter). Plus, the user Interface is clean, simple and easy to use.

The downside: It's a new venture, so there aren't many people using it yet and it doesn't allow cross-platform communications, so you'll have to establish a whole new account and a new contacts list.

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Social Network

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I'd Join No Thanks!

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• Facebook Usernames, Email, Photos exposed on Yelp!

• 'How Do I Delete My Facebook Account?' Query Soars In Popularity

• WATCH: How To Fix Your Facebook Privacy Settings In 2 Minutes

• Facebook CEO Allegedly Mocked Users For Sharing Personal Data With Him

• FLIP FLOP? Facebook CEO Praised Privacy Controls In 2008

Comments

[James Snowgrass]

03:51 PM on 06/24/2010

Twitter, Facebook and HuffPo need to support secure open standards based protectnetwork logins.It is even compatible to openid. See who else support protectnetwork logins? http://www.protectnetwork.com/sites-enabled

[curiousasheck]

01:41 PM on 06/24/2010

What ever happened to genuine human interaction?

[wassilij]

09:24 PM on 05/26/2010

This site will scan your privacy settings on facebook so that you can make the necessary adjustments.
It works real well......took less than 5 minutes to adjust mine....then rescans to make sure the settings are ok!!

http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/facebook

[axollot]

12:16 PM on 05/24/2010

I had to LOL at the "exclusive" one so the nobility didnt mingle with everyone else. Such pansys. Get out and live, meet people outside of your comfort zone.

[EdBallsUp]

02:14 PM on 05/23/2010

Oh good news... www.folkdirect.com is back online after a major server upgrade.

[Rubens Santos]

02:18 AM on 05/23/2010

Só falta o orkut começar a receber os exilados do Facebook

[inyourfacebook]

10:40 PM on 05/21/2010

I vote for http://jackthedonkey.com because http://thisassgivesapoop.com and everyone can freely, regularly, socially & now musically 4 the charity of your choice.

[Mark Riedeman]

05:43 PM on 05/21/2010

I created http://www.OnlineLounge.com about 8 years ago to keep up with friends and family. It's worked. Totally and completely private (my mom doesn't need to see the updates to my poker buddies), and designed to keep up with people at a more leisurely pace than the constant status update sites. Since then, it's grown quietly and organically on its own.

Try it out. It's free.

[mooneyes1983]

11:41 AM on 05/21/2010

Don't forgot about Second Life...it's a virtual social network in 3d. Kinda hard to learn to use at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's really cool. And if you've heard about Second Life before, it's NOT a game, although you can play user created games once you are "in-world", like Zyngo, Gemmy, and more.

[mooneyes1983]

12:25 PM on 05/21/2010

Here's a good video explaining more about Second Life http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3gHCupXSMs and the web address is www.secondlife.com

[msicenhour]

01:57 AM on 05/21/2010

Myspace!?!?

[ReedYoung]

01:52 AM on 05/21/2010

http://www.isoc-ny.org/?p=1338

Recommended by another HP user, on this or another story about Facebook. It's about an hour long, but worth 1,000. Really.

[ReedYoung]

01:55 AM on 05/21/2010

"... but we're not going to win the 'freedom of the 'Net' discussion (against China) carrying Facebook on our backs."

[Obert Madondo]

07:43 PM on 05/20/2010

I'm not ready to quit Facebook. The global experience Facebook gives me is just too sweet to abandon.

[NJmikeV]

05:16 PM on 05/20/2010

Google? Please. Google Chrome is basically free spyware.

I use Firefox and www.ixquick.com for searches.

I joined FB at the coercion of relatives.

Stan is right.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/269226

[femmyror]

04:32 PM on 05/20/2010

Safe? Until when?

[Giles Lewey]

04:27 PM on 05/20/2010

People should check out trustworks.com. It's private direct connect (no broadcasting) advice exchange; everything can be anonymous, but the fun of it is creating trusted groups to trade information with. It's a bit of a start-up, but I've already gotten good advice on a really specific issue (IP law).