good article about the power of Facebook and how to foster alternatives
"These noncommercial alternatives would not have to be funded by the government (which is fortunate, given that government funding for public media such as PBS is in doubt these days). Ralph Engelman, a media historian at Long Island University who wrote Public Radio and Television in America: A Political History, points out that the creation of public broadcasting was led by—and partially funded by—prominent nonprofit groups such as the Ford and Carnegie Foundations."
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/604082/we-need-more-alternatives-to-facebook/?set=607909
https://soc.schiessle.org/display/c0ca984b215921551fddfe2724418286