A Call For an Open, Distributed Alternative To Facebook

qwerty8ytrewq writes "Ryan Singel, writing for Wired, claims that Facebook has gone rogue: 'Facebook used to be a place to share photos and thoughts with friends and family and maybe play a few stupid games that let you pretend you were a mafia don or a homesteader. It became a very useful way to connect with your friends, long-lost friends and family members. ... And Facebook realized it owned the network. Then Facebook decided to turn "your" profile page into your identity online — figuring, rightly, that there’s money and power in being the place where people define themselves. But to do that, the folks at Facebook had to make sure that the information you give it was public.' Singel goes on to call for an open, distributed alternative. 'Facebook’s basic functions can be turned into protocols, and a whole set of interoperating software and services can flourish. Think of being able to buy your own domain name and use simple software such as Posterous to build a profile page in the style of your liking.' Can Slashdotters predict where social networking is going? And how?" Relatedly, jamie points out a graphical representation of how Facebook's privacy settings have changed over the last five years.

Comments

Re:Just don't use facebook and stop crying

[Orp]

Yep. Any "open distributed alternative" will fall flat because what makes the mother of all social networking site useful, is that everybody frickin' uses it. You could delete your account in protest and start up OpenFrobnitzBook or whatever and have fun updating your status to the other pathetic losers who also deleted their facebook accounts out of protest.

Two easy facebook rules:

1. Tweak your privacy options to your liking
2. Before you post, pretend your future (or current) employer is reading

This will assist you in deciding whether it's a good idea to post those hilarious drunken half-naked pictures of you groping that dude dressed up in a Grimace costume.

Re:We have it. It's called the World Wide Web.

[Khyber]

"If something is private, keep it off the net."

Yea, right. Didn't take long for those people trying to disappear off the grid to get found.

Nothing is private in the current political climate.

If you want something kept private, DEFEND IT WITH LIVE AMMUNITION.

That's the *ONLY* way you're going to keep something private by any means.