Alternative Social Networks

A quick note about personal automation engines (discussed last time - things to help automate your life) before we get started with today’s topic. If you’re on iOS you’ve got Siri and Shortcuts already on your device. If you’re on Android you’ve got Google Assistant already on your device, and if you have a Samsung device you’ve also got Bixby. These engines have varying degrees of difficulty and complexity but can accomplish a great many things to help automate your life.

What’s wrong with Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc?

If you’re like me you have connected with a number of old friends, acquaintances, and business contacts on one or more of these and similar social networks. I find them to be an excellent way to keep up with people I know, have known, or have just met. I would not advocate you shut down those accounts. But if you want to expand your circle of friends and acquaintances they’re not the best. Why? Anyone can create a profile and pretend to be anyone. There is no validation or verification that they are who they say they are. Is that a big deal? Well, not necessarily directly but even if you don’t “friend” or “follow” them, their posts can still show up in your feed and if they’re a bad actor they can post anything including outright lies. And in today’s environment laden with Artificial Intelligence, it’s entirely possible that their posts, while completely false, will look real and trustworthy. What’s the solution? Well, one obvious solution is to ignore anything from someone you don’t know. But even then how do you know that your friend hasn’t been taken in by a post that’s full of misinformation or an outright lie? It’s easy for me to say that you should maybe ignore any informational posts from anyone that deals with something other than your shared history but, in practice, that’s not so easy to do.

I could also suggest that you get your news and similar information from known good news sources. But, really, isn’t it much easier to just scroll through your Facebook feed and get your news from there? Maybe that used to be the case but we have many reported instances of fake accounts being created to spread misinformation and outright lies. And that says nothing about those accounts that have been created to bilk you out of your hard earned savings (we’ve discussed this in a previous column).

How can we know who the account holder really is?

The long and short of it is you can’t unless you have been in direct contact with that person and have verified that they are who they purport to be.

Solutions?

There are social networking sites that require some sort of identity verification. Your current crop of friends may not be signed up but that shouldn’t stop you from signing up if you’re looking for a relatively safe space to find new friends or new activities or to connect with those that live near you. And once you’re in you can certainly invite your current crop of friends to join you.

Two sites that require some sort of verification are NextDoor and The Playground. NextDoor is a locality-based social network, meaning that you join a community that’s where you live or own property. You can then interact with others, including businesses, in that area. To get signed up for NextDoor you must verify where you live or own property. NextDoor is quite open with how to do that - https://help.nextdoor.com/s/article/How-to-verify-your-address?language=en_US 

The Playground is focused on seniors, 65+, and requires you to fill out a profile using your real name. Preferably you have a referral from someone who’s already a member (you can mention me) but if not you can still apply. You have to fill out a profile form using your real name, not a pseudonym and one of the admins will admit you. You can view The Playground at https://theplaygroundcircle.org/ and you can even do a test drive from there. To sign up click on Contact Us, enter your real name and an email address and in the Message field put how you found them (my name and my newsletter will work) and click Send. You should shortly receive an email confirming your membership.

A brief word on how I produce this

The words here are all mine. I do not use Generative Artificial Intelligence in any way to augment or supplement my words. Generative AI is used to help produce the images and I have a live person who reviews my words for spelling and such but that’s the extent of it.

Why am I telling you this? These columns are a labor of love for me. As I’ve said before, I grew to be sick and tired of the jargon and mystery that we in the field of tech would promote. It scared people off and made it more difficult to use technology that could ultimately help us all to a better life. As a consequence, it seems a bit disingenuous for me to use an AI to assist in writing this. I have no argument with those who use AI to help them produce content, it’s just not something that I feel comfortable doing.

That’s all for this time

I hope this has given you a glimpse into other social networking sites that require some sort of identity verification. I’ve only mentioned two but there are others which you can find, if you’re interested, by searching. Don't hesitate to write to me if you have questions!

As always, my intent is to help you understand the basics and equip you to search for more detailed information.

Please feel free to email me with questions, comments, suggestions, requests for future columns, to sign up for my newsletter, or whatever at [email protected] or just drop me a quick note and say HI!

If you’re not already signed up for this newsletter, you can do so or review past newsletters at https://TonysTakeOnTech.beehiiv.com. And if you like, you can read my most recent newsletter in the Hillsboro Times Gazette at https://go.ttot.link/TG-Column - I should have that link updated shortly after this edition of the newsletter appears in the online version of the newspaper.