Big Tech Is In For A Reckoning

With Big Tech cracking down on APIs and 3rd party apps there is a whole world of open source and federated alternatives that people can turn to.

Here’s a few:

Alternative to Reddit: Lemmy
Alternative to Twitter: Mastodon/Plemora
Alternative to Facebook: MissKey/Calckey
Alternative to Instagram: Pixelfed
Alternative to Slack and Discord: Matrix

There are so many more. Heck even Meta is getting into the action with an ActivityPub (the tech stack behind these platforms) network. Also let’s not forget about the big dog in CMSs, WordPress. WordPress can federate and share to the Fediverse too.

As I see it, I think many of the these closed platforms are shooting themselves in the foot. Especially the ones that are filled with tech savvy users (cough, cough Reddit).

If you’re interested in learning more about the alternatives out there, hit me up! I’ll be glad to show you around!

What do you think? Have you tried out any of these alternatives?

If you want to learn more Fedi.tips is a great site with great info.

Web Jawn

• Reddit’s new API pricing will kill off Apollo on June 30
  And it’s not just killing off Apollo, many other 3rd party apps that were making Reddit, in my opinion, usable are closing up shop as well.

• This is what Instagram’s upcoming Twitter competitor looks like
  Looks neat, but no thanks. I’ll stick to the true Fediverse apps. Though good on Meta for making it using ActivityPub and federating it.

• In a shocking turn of events, Netflix subscriptions rise after password-sharing crackdown
  We’re all guity at some point of password sharing our Netflix or other streaming platform password. I’m not surprised that many are choosing to stay with Netflix even after being made to have their own account. It’s a decent service.

• WhatsApp Launches Broadcast Channels to Capitalize on Rising DM Engagement
  This could be cool. Or could be notification overload. What do you think?

• LinkedIn Launches DMs for Company Pages
  This will definitely be helpful. I’m excited. It took them long enough!

• The best word count for SEO… doesn’t exist!
  I could have told you this. Write good content for the end user and the SEO will come to you. Write crappy content and only for the search engines and you won’t see the rewards. Especially now with AI.

• Google Search of today won’t exist in 10 years, says DeepMind co-founder
  This isn’t surprising and not really news. Things evolve and change and 10 years in the internet age is decades if not eons. So… expect and embrace change. ADAPT!

• More than 6,000 subreddits have gone dark to protest Reddit’s API changes
  I’ll be watching to see if it makes any sizeable impact on the powers-that-be.

• Reddit is crashing because of the growing subreddit blackout
  The protest does seem to be having and effect on the servers over at Reddit.

• Google launches perspectives filter in mobile search results
  Neat new way to view your mobile search results.

• Bing Chat gains voice search on desktop interface
  New features all the time. This can definitely be helpful and good for accessibility.

• The 2023 State of Social Media: AI & Data Take Center Stage
  An interesting study conducted by Harris for Sprout Social. It’s worth giving your email for this report.

Find Of The Week

Lemmy is one of a few Reddit competitors that are coming out to take advantage of the exodus from the alien-themed site after the draconian API fees killed off some of the most popular 3rd party apps. It’s still a bit rough around the edges. It’s where Mastodon was in 2016/17. But definitly worth checking out if you need a replacement for Reddit.

Sponsor

Agorapulse is a sponsor for the newsletter. But I’m not just shilling for them. Their platform is the best I’ve used in the 15+ years I’ve been in digital marketing. It’s worth checking out!

As always stay curious!

– Seth (Find Me On Mastodon: @seth@masto.ai)