There is a good variety of alternatives to Instagram

I have soured quite a bit on the current leaders in social media. When Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (owned by Facebook) aren’t making user-hostile decisions like algorithmic timelines and invasive tracking, they do everything possible to avoid their responsibility to curb hate speech in the name of Wall Street and profits.

I don’t want to support these platforms anymore, so I’m working on moving away from them. Fortunately, there are more positive places to hang out online that are built with more ethical foundations and respect for us regular folks. Some are even community-built and run, and they already have millions of users.

When it comes to Instagram, there is a good variety of alternatives that ditch the psychological manipulation tactics and are generally more respectful of our privacy and how we want to share with each other. Here are some of my recommendations.

Flickr

The original breakout photo sharing service, Flickr is having a renaissance. Yahoo/Verizon sold it to Smugmug, which is revitalizing Flickr into a freemium, standalone service.

I’m @dchartier on Flickr.

VSCO

VSCO is a freemium photo sharing community with an emphasis on editing tools and minimalism. The interface can…