Private social network
February 25, 2016 1:50 PM Subscribe
I want to set up a social network for me and ~10 other people.
This is for a group of friends and we want to keep it to ourselves.
Invite only and not findable by other people. It needs to be available to the members only and NOT tied in anyway to the Facebook ecosystem. A couple of us are purposefully not on there. I tried looking into this and found Everyme and Origami but wah wah they are gone now. Needs to have a web interface as there is one of us without a mobile device.
This is for a group of friends and we want to keep it to ourselves.
Invite only and not findable by other people. It needs to be available to the members only and NOT tied in anyway to the Facebook ecosystem. A couple of us are purposefully not on there. I tried looking into this and found Everyme and Origami but wah wah they are gone now. Needs to have a web interface as there is one of us without a mobile device.
slack? it's private if you keep it invite only.
posted by typecloud at 1:55 PM on February 25, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by typecloud at 1:55 PM on February 25, 2016 [8 favorites]
Slack does this quite well.
posted by Metroid Baby at 1:56 PM on February 25, 2016
posted by Metroid Baby at 1:56 PM on February 25, 2016
A group of us have retreated to Slack.com . It works for what we want, but it's not really a drop in Facebook replacement.
posted by advicepig at 1:56 PM on February 25, 2016
posted by advicepig at 1:56 PM on February 25, 2016
What do you want it to be able to do? Do you care if it has archives? A lot of people are using Slack for this sort of thing and the free version is pretty robust BUT you can't save archives which is a dealbreaker for some people and not for others. Euphoria is still getting going but you might be able to have sort of a chat room there. If you've got nine people with mobile and one without it would almost be worth investing a bit of effort into seeing if you could get person ten on mobile because there are more private-type options if you can all be on mobile.
posted by jessamyn at 1:56 PM on February 25, 2016
posted by jessamyn at 1:56 PM on February 25, 2016
Set up a private google groups. Some friends and I have this. It started as onelist, then became an egroup (when egroup bought onelist) and now is a google group (since google bought egroup).
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 1:57 PM on February 25, 2016
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 1:57 PM on February 25, 2016
now is a google group (since google bought egroup)
It was actually Yahoo! that bought eGroups; they turned it into Yahoo! Groups. Google Groups was started by a couple of ex-eGroups engineers, though.
(Disclaimer: I worked at eGroups back in the day. Wasn't there for the Y! acquisition, though.)
posted by asterix at 2:39 PM on February 25, 2016
It was actually Yahoo! that bought eGroups; they turned it into Yahoo! Groups. Google Groups was started by a couple of ex-eGroups engineers, though.
(Disclaimer: I worked at eGroups back in the day. Wasn't there for the Y! acquisition, though.)
posted by asterix at 2:39 PM on February 25, 2016
Would a private Wiki do what you want?
I have done this a couple times: creating Wikis for (tabletop, pen-and-paper) roleplaying games I was in, where the user base was limited to the players (and GMs) of the games in question. It worked out pretty well, even with some very non-technical users and a broad range of client devices.
Shameless self-link: the gory details of how to actually accomplish this feat with MediaWiki. (Caveat: old article is old.)
I shall also repeat my usual litany of "If it matters, host it yourself, on a domain that you own."
posted by sourcequench at 3:01 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
I have done this a couple times: creating Wikis for (tabletop, pen-and-paper) roleplaying games I was in, where the user base was limited to the players (and GMs) of the games in question. It worked out pretty well, even with some very non-technical users and a broad range of client devices.
Shameless self-link: the gory details of how to actually accomplish this feat with MediaWiki. (Caveat: old article is old.)
I shall also repeat my usual litany of "If it matters, host it yourself, on a domain that you own."
posted by sourcequench at 3:01 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
What about Livejournal? It's a blast from the past but does the friends-only job well. If everyone joins, friends each other, and makes their posts friends only, then you have your own social media circle.
posted by dayintoday at 3:12 PM on February 25, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by dayintoday at 3:12 PM on February 25, 2016 [3 favorites]
A WordPress site running BuddyPress is pretty easy to set up and very "Facebook"-like with respect to PMing, tagging, posting to your or someone else's wall.
posted by instamatic at 3:13 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by instamatic at 3:13 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm going to second LiveJournal. Even though it's not cool anymore, I am constantly hearing people expressing a desire for... Something that functions exactly like LiveJournal. It still exists, folks! Strong privacy protections, the ability to have both a private space maintained by you (but able to be commented on by those you give access to) and closed community spaces. I miss it a lot, but all my friends left it for things that end in -r.
posted by soren_lorensen at 3:57 PM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by soren_lorensen at 3:57 PM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
For my job I was forced to used Yammer, which essentially resembled Facebook but for businesses and work associates. It's not connected to Facebook, but I don't think it's free. (This screenshot shows what it looks like.)
I guess it depends what you want to be able to do. There are lots of social networks where you don't need to connect to facebook and can have private accounts that only friends see, like Twitter, Tumblr, Google Plus, a private subreddit on Reddit, etc. I use something called HipChat for another job, which is mostly for group chatting. Google Plus is the most like a Facebook replacement, but it comes with its own issues...
posted by AppleTurnover at 4:12 PM on February 25, 2016
I guess it depends what you want to be able to do. There are lots of social networks where you don't need to connect to facebook and can have private accounts that only friends see, like Twitter, Tumblr, Google Plus, a private subreddit on Reddit, etc. I use something called HipChat for another job, which is mostly for group chatting. Google Plus is the most like a Facebook replacement, but it comes with its own issues...
posted by AppleTurnover at 4:12 PM on February 25, 2016
My friends and I use Slack and it works well for this.
posted by MsMolly at 5:47 PM on February 25, 2016
posted by MsMolly at 5:47 PM on February 25, 2016
Dreamwidth is an LJ clone that is run by Good People rather than a faceless Russian corporation.
posted by Tamanna at 9:29 PM on February 25, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by Tamanna at 9:29 PM on February 25, 2016 [8 favorites]
Take a look at Basecamp which has a message board, group chat, and calendar. You could just ignore the additional features that you don't need. Your first Basecamp is free.
posted by sockpup at 10:05 PM on February 25, 2016
posted by sockpup at 10:05 PM on February 25, 2016
Seconding Dreamwidth, though mobile is still not quite as convenient as I'd like it, but with the last of the US-based LJ staff having left earlier this year, I trust Dreamwidth to be more privacy-sensible re continued development.
Disclaimer: I used to volunteer for both websites, and am friends with the people who run Dreamwidth.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 8:38 AM on February 26, 2016
Disclaimer: I used to volunteer for both websites, and am friends with the people who run Dreamwidth.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 8:38 AM on February 26, 2016
Nthing Slack.
posted by glenngulia at 11:56 AM on February 26, 2016
posted by glenngulia at 11:56 AM on February 26, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
Also, if it's on the internet, "not findable by other people" probably isn't very realistic for a website. You can keep them from using it, but not from finding it...
posted by primethyme at 1:54 PM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]