# Building alternative social media [[Alternative social media]]. ## As per Anarchist Cybernetics There's a chapter called exactly this, "Building Alternative Social Media" in [[Anarchist Cybernetics]] on this. With a list of desirable features: - Forums for conversation - Direct messaging - Sharing content with meme/viral potential - News feed with curated and user-generated content - Public relations function - Linking alternative and mainstream platforms - Central resource hub - Noise and overload filters - Overuse addiction warning system - General assembly function - Pad function - Memory / narrative - File sharing and knowledge exchange - Procrastination - Online decision making embedded in offline structures - Sections open to non-members - Architecture for [[collective autonomy]] - Flexible engagement options - Responsibility and commitment - Privacy, security and data - Easy backup of information I like this list. Is it solely social media though? What explicitly **is** [[social media]]? Anyway, I would probably advocate to attain the above in a patterny / Unixy way I feel. i.e. bridge and glue together the different pieces, avoid a behemoth platform. I suppose a behemoth matters less if it's libre. But it feels like the pieces are already there to glue together, so don't reinvent the wheel.