The Social Media Alternatives Project (S-MAP) is comprised of two parts. First, there is a blog exploring developments in alternative social media. That is, sites that are built due to criticisms of mainstream social media sites such as Facebook, Google+, and Twitter. Notable examples of these sites include Diaspora, Quitter, and Lorea. The blog will discuss these sites and detail research on them.

Second, the S-MAP will house an archive of screenshots and data about alternative social media. This is meant to be a resource for scholars who are studying these alternatives, as well as for those who want to build their own alternatives to Facebook, Twitter, and Google.

Sponsors

The S-MAP is made possible by these generous sponsors:

Dean, College of Humanities, University of Utah

The Tanner Humanities Center, University of Utah

U of Utah Vice President for Research

Staff

Robert W. Gehl, associate professor, Communication, The University of Utah

Julie Snyder-Yuly, PhD student, Communication, The University of Utah

Diana Zulli, PhD student, Communication, The University of Utah

Miao Liu, PhD student, Communication, University of Utah

Advisory Board

Geert Lovink, Research Professor of Interactive Media at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA) and a Professor of Media Theory at the European Graduate School.

Victor Pickard, Assistant Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.

Allyson Mower, Assistant Librarian, Marriott Library, University of Utah.

Christian Fuchs, Professor of Social Media at the University of Westminster.

Ganaele Langlois, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies, York University.