What is the local FOSS replacement for Facebook and Instagram? It is not inherent in the notion of communicating publicly and privately using photos, videos and short text messages than I disclose some ungodly amount of private data. I have feel like writing some protocol and a few clients and servers, but I expect that there's already twenty four competing protocols that no-one uses because, if you're not the biggest, you're noone.
> Others are more difficult, because communication is inherent to the service, and centralization is the simplest and most obvious choice when being provided by a coorporation, so an infamous "decentralised" solution is needed, which are more difficult to create, organise and promote.
I think the only way a decentralised social network replacement will win out facebook is with a universal but progressive/gracefully degrading protocol is created as the single way lots of different clients/federated servers etc communicate, a protocol that also allows greater level of control over where your data goes... i.e email but better.
As i said these problems are the most difficult, but there are a lot of thing being "clouded" at the moment that have no need, those are the low hanging fruit.
Note that I am suggesting FOSS is the preferred option to obfuscating, rather than the only option... some services will always be centralised not only because it's simpler but because it's about/for a central authority... for those obfuscation is the only way.
There is no alternative, because facebook isn't just "a protocol and some clients/servers". As long as it's -the- social network to be on, then it will always be just that. You can't compete with social culture just with mere programming.
