Diaspora: Facebook Alternative on Sept.15

Diaspora offered us an open-source for Social Networking. Making it a “Facebook Alternative” which will hype up every human being. But after their May controversy, no news. We thought the new Facebook competitor died. Until today, when they said:

“We have Diaspora working, we like it, and it will be open-sourced on September 15th.”

This must be a news from heaven. But wait, it has been three golden months when the buzz began. The heat of the “Murder Facebook” and Privacy Issues were no longer a major concern to anyone. Plus, a timely issue that Diaspora raised over $200,000 from the fundraising Kickstarter. But still Facebook is still growing and gained 500 Million users? The privacy issue mellowed doen and seems like no one can dethrone Facebook.

We forgot to deactivate our accounts. So big question is, what’s in it for social network users?

Diaspora must be realistic on what they can and cannot do.

At the very least, Diaspora is being realistic about what they can and cannot do. In the post today they noted that they have for now abandoned the idea of plug-ins and APIs for the“simple and high value features.”

Further, they write:

We are spending a good chunk of time concentrating on building clear, contextual sharing. That means an intuitive way for users to decide, and not notice deciding, what content goes to their coworkers and what goes to their drinking buddies. We know that’s a hard UI problem and we take it seriously.

And while the open-sourcing the project begins Sept. 15, they will not be finished working on it. Two members of the core team of four are on leave from their studies at the University of New York (which was a summer project for all) and work will continue long term.

Meanwhile, the team notes that it is time for some R & R, three of them will be present for the Burning Man festival in California. Presumably, these images will be shared with their “drinking buddies” list of the Diaspora.

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