sjat d310cad787 fix: replace ASCII art Big Picture with proper markdown tables

Two 4-column tables replace the box-drawing character grid, which
rendered poorly in the gaia theme's proportional font. Dense class
applied to keep both tables within slide bounds.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

2026-05-10 21:18:11 +02:00

5.1 KiB

Raw Permalink Blame History

marp	theme	class	paginate
true	gaia	invert	true

SoMe Taxonomy

What are we talking about when we say "Social Media"?

MakerFLOSS · May 2026

Why a Taxonomy?

"Social Media" is a catch-all term that hides very different tools:

A group chat is not a blog
A wiki is not a forum
A video platform is not a microblog

Understanding the categories helps us:

Choose the right tool for the job
Find FLOSS alternatives in each category

The Categories

Category	Purpose
Messaging	1:1 and group real-time chat
Microblogging	Short public posts, feeds
Forums	Threaded discussions, Q&A
Wikis	Collaborative knowledge bases
Media Sharing	Photos, videos, audio
Professional Networks	Career, business connections
Collaboration	Team workspaces, documents

Messaging

Real-time 1:1 and group communication

Platform	Owner	FLOSS Alternative
WhatsApp	Meta	Signal, Matrix
Messenger	Meta	Matrix, XMPP
iMessage	Apple	Signal
Google Messages	Google	Matrix
Telegram	Telegram	Matrix, Signal
Teams Chat	Microsoft	Mattermost, Rocket.Chat
Slack	Salesforce	Mattermost, Zulip

Microblogging

Short posts, public feeds, social networking

Platform	Owner	FLOSS Alternative
Twitter/X	X Corp	Mastodon, Pleroma
Threads	Meta	Mastodon
Bluesky	Bluesky	Mastodon (federated)

All FLOSS alternatives use ActivityPub or similar federation protocols.

Forums & Discussion

Threaded discussions, communities, Q&A

Platform	Owner	FLOSS Alternative
Reddit	Reddit Inc	Lemmy, Kbin
Facebook Groups	Meta	Discourse, Lemmy
Stack Overflow	Stack Exchange	Discourse
Quora	Quora Inc	Discourse

Wikis & Knowledge Bases

Collaborative documentation and knowledge sharing

Platform	Owner	FLOSS Alternative
Wikipedia	Wikimedia	MediaWiki (same!)
Notion	Notion Labs	Wiki.js, BookStack
Confluence	Atlassian	Wiki.js, XWiki
Google Docs (collab)	Google	Etherpad, HedgeDoc

Photos, videos, audio, streaming

Platform	Type	FLOSS Alternative
YouTube	Video	PeerTube
Instagram	Photos	Pixelfed
TikTok	Short video	PeerTube
Spotify	Audio	Funkwhale
Twitch	Live stream	Owncast
Flickr	Photos	Pixelfed

Professional Networks

Career networking, business connections

Platform	Owner	FLOSS Alternative
LinkedIn	Microsoft	OpenSocialLinked?
Xing	New Work SE	(no clear alternative)

This category has the weakest FLOSS alternatives — network effects are hard to overcome.

Collaboration & Productivity

Team workspaces, project management

Platform	Owner	FLOSS Alternative
Microsoft Teams	Microsoft	Mattermost, Rocket.Chat
Slack	Salesforce	Mattermost, Zulip
Trello	Atlassian	Wekan, Kanboard
Asana	Asana	OpenProject
Google Workspace	Google	Nextcloud

Legacy / Classic

Still around, still relevant

Platform	Type	Notes
Email	Messaging	The original! Federated by design
NetNews (NNTP)	Forums	Usenet — the original Reddit
IRC	Messaging	Still used by many FLOSS projects
Mailing Lists	Forums	Listserv, Mailman — still going strong
RSS	Feeds	Subscribe to anything

The Big Picture

Messaging	Microblog	Forums	Media
WhatsApp	Twitter/X	Reddit	YouTube
Messenger	Threads	FB Groups	Instagram
Signal	Mastodon	Lemmy	PeerTube
Matrix	Bluesky	Discourse	Pixelfed

Wikis	Professional	Collaboration	Legacy
Wikipedia	LinkedIn	Teams/Slack	Email
Notion	Xing	Mattermost	IRC
Wiki.js		Nextcloud	NetNews

Key Takeaways

"Social Media" is not one thing — it's many categories
Each category has FLOSS alternatives — some better than others
Federation is the key — ActivityPub, Matrix, Email
Network effects are the barrier — the tech exists, adoption is hard
Legacy protocols still work — Email, IRC, RSS are battle-tested

Questions?

Slides made with Marp

5.1 KiB Raw Permalink Blame History