How can I replace this one aspect of Facebook?

Frankly I like the idea of the email distribution. That is one step up from FB.
If you must have a FB-like group consider Google +.

I’m not sure how comfortable you are with the idea of this but you could host your own forums for your family and friends.

For five bucks a month (I know, the horror of paying for something internet related) you can get a droplet on Digital Ocean and install VanillaForums. It is fairly simple and I think is a good investment since you actually own your data. And you can lock it down so the only people that can post are people you invite so spam isn’t a issue.

https://ello.co/manifesto You and your friends might try Ello.

Meetifyr sounds like it might be what you’re looking for: http://www.meetifyr.com
WhieIsGood is a similar site: http://whenisgood.net

Those two seem to be mostly for selecting the date; I’m not sure what more they do. All the other services that do more, like Doodle and Cozi, involve signing up and/or downloading an App.

Do you and your friends have WhatsApp?

@keobooks

Yeah, that’s gonna last.

@longgone I don’t have What’sApp, never even heard of it.

Meetifyr looks the most useful so far, thanks @CuriosityKills

^ Interesting. You’re in the UK, right? I know you have it over there, but of course, it may not be big.

Just make a contact list in your email client, name the contact list, and then type the name of the contact list in the address field.

If you add friends to your network, just add their email address to the contact list.

Aside from the obvious concerns about selling data and ever site on the internet wanting you to log in through Facebook (to get at your data) I really don’t understand the hate that FB gets. It is what you make of it.

@Darth_Algar Its the obvious concerns that concern me.