When all a person has used is Facebook, Facebook might seem like a good idea. It has a bunch of useful things that a person being introduced to the web may take for granted once their are no longer in awe. Sharing stories and other cultural artifacts across time and space, wrapped in gamified dopamine hits, that's some good stuff.
Of course it obfuscates the indignity of the user experience: illusion of privacy, constant tracking, personal investment in a corporate product, and no protections from harmful events such as harassment. Doesn't sound so great, now.
For a long time I thought that we could replace Facebook with something that worked just like it, but was built on the principals of freedom and openness that I've seen power my favorite parts of the web. But in the process I've seen truth spoken to power, and that power is by and large a behemoth of a capitalist machine that feeds itself by slurping up the most vulnerable members on the web, folks that haven't developed their technical skills yet.
I am going to try something different, something that makes sense to me, something that I can do well, and something I think folks around just may use. Something that will respect folks, educate them, and show them an alternative to corporate-sponsored social networks and tools. Maybe it will work. ^_^