Tod Maffin introduces Hey.cafe, a Canadian social network built by Andrew Lee in Penticton as a Facebook alternative. It has chronological feeds, groups called cafes, no ads, and optional paid Pro accounts. The platform prioritizes privacy and genuine conversation over algorithmic manipulation.
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I'm tired of being told that this is as good as it gets. That if you want to stay connected to your family or your community, you have to hand your life over to a US tech company that treats Canada like a rounding error. Facebook didn't drift into this role, it chose it. So let's find an all-Canadian replacement. Welcome to the first in my series about finding a replacement for the American tech that you use right now. First up, replacing Facebook, I really like Hey Cafe. It's built in Canada, run in Canada by this guy, Andrew Lee. He lives in Penticton. It has groups just like Facebook. They're called cafes where where people actually talk. It has a feed just like Facebook, but this one doesn't feel like it's yelling at you. You follow someone, you see what they post. You talk to people because you want to, not because some algorithm decided that conflict would keep you scrolling longer. Is it smaller? Yes, of course it is. But scale is what broke Facebook in the first place. Hey Cafe has no ads, it's free to use, but if you wanna support Andrew, you can pay for a pro account to get like a few extra features. It's at hey.cafe. Join, say Tod Maffin sent me, and I will follow you. Look, we say that we want Canadian solutions, We say we care about privacy and local journalism. Then a Canadian platform shows up. Most of us stick with what we already know, even while complaining about it on Facebook. You don't have to delete your Facebook account tomorrow, but there are alternatives. So check out hey.cafe and follow me for the next installation in this series. Next up, I will be telling you how to replace Twitter with an all-Canadian replacement that is already hopping.
