Instagram went down and suddenly people have become 20% more productive at work. Just kidding.
Instagram plays a vital role in our daily lives because it’s our go-to for documenting the random moments in our day and, at the same time, for getting updated with the goings-on of the people we follow. It’s also the medium where models, influencers, and bloggers show off their stuff while we look on with envy and admiration. Take Instagram away and all of us are left with nothing to boast, nothing to document, nothing to watch.
In fact, take away all the social media websites we use on the daily and we’re left staring blankly at our phones — confused over what we’ll do next.
So in the event that Instagram doesn’t come back up (not that the guys at the top would ever let that happen), and it takes Facebook (which also went down as well), Twitter, and YouTube down with them, we’ve curated a list of possible alternatives for each of them:
Vero
Vero has been regarded as the best alternative to Facebook ever since it came out in 2015. To date, their community is massively growing thanks to its Free Lifetime Membership promo. Vero aspires to be a social media platform that will remain free of advertising in the long run and that won’t get or share private user information to make a profit.
Other features that make Vero enticing for users are its chronological timeline and that you can group your contacts into separate sections and control which group can view which message. Sadly, Vero plans on becoming a website that requires paid annual subscription in the future. So you better take advantage of its promo by signing up today!
Ello
Before Vero, Ello was poised to become the website that would kill off Facebook. Now, it’s more of a platform for artists and creatives to share their content without it being overshadowed by the neon lights and pretty girls of Instagram. You can filter what you see on your feed according to your interests which you can like, comment on, and even repost to your profile so others in your network can see it too.
Apart from sharing your content, you can also sell your work — and you don’t have to pay money or follow hundreds of strangers for you to promote it.
Tumblr
It’s time to go back to Tumblr, folks. This blogging platform has always been a safe space to share content with your followers and to indulge in the content of others as well that are related to your interests — your favorite movies, books, shows, art, and more. The community is also much kinder, more tolerant, and more accepting, so interacting with strangers is a much more enjoyable experience. So if you’re tired of the toxicity of your social media websites, Tumblr is a safe space for you.
Steemit
Steemit is an alternative to Reddit where you can publish posts and get upvotes which lets you earn a monetary reward in the form of Steem crypto tokens. So while you’re potentially wasting hours curating and posting content on Steemit, you’re getting something in return, which kind of never happens.
Digg
Popular social media websites were once a place where we can conveniently source our news, but these days it’s becoming harder to tell which is real and which is fake. So, instead of heading to Facebook and Twitter to know the goings-on of the world, head to much more reliable websites like Digg, which doesn’t require you to sign up for an account to browse, read, and “like”.
Plurk
Plurk has been around for 10 years but its popularity never really flew through the roof in the Philippines as much as it did in Taiwan. To those unfamiliar with Plurk, it utilizes a horizontal timeline where you can easy spot updates made by the people you follow in chronological order. You only have 360 characters to compose your Plurks, and each Plurk can be liked and reacted to using special emoticons which unlock as your “karma” increases.
Plurk is just like Twitter — in fact, it’s exactly like Twitter — only a little cluttered and you can choose your background image. And in the event that the toxicity of Twitter causes its awaited demise, Plurk is the next best thing for the same exact experience without the negativity.
Funny or Die
Let’s be honest: if Facebook were to leave, the first thing we’ll miss the most is seeing funny videos that would make our day.
Thankfully, we have Funny or Die — a website that curates all the funniest videos of the Internet and lets users upload their own videos. It’s worth checking out for amazing content, even if Facebook or YouTube haven’t died yet.
Mastodon
Mastodon describes itself as an open source social network that is similar to Twitter and Tumblr where you can post statuses, photos, links, and other content to be seen and can be shared by users who follow you. Each post has a character limit of 500 and is displayed on your feed in chronological order.
What makes Mastodon different is that anyone can create and run his or her own server called an “instance” (similar to a “subreddit” on Reddit) where you can impose your own rules and connect with people within your instance, without necessarily prohibiting you from interacting with members of other instances. What’s more is that Mastodon is active in dealing with abusive posts so that its platform remains a safe and ethical space for its community to thrive.
Which of these alternative social media platforms are you curious to try? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
