Diaspora* means a brighter future for all of us

http://blog.joindiaspora.com/2011/09/21/diaspora-means-a-brighter-future-for-all-of-us.html

by bootload • 15 years ago

15 13 15 years ago

blog.joindiaspora.com

icandoitbetter2• 15 years ago

Please don't spam my inbox Diaspora, especially since I still haven't gotten the invite I signed up for a year ago.

dorian-graph• 15 years ago

Would like an invite?

llambda• 15 years ago

Invites went out yesterday as far as I can tell. I was sent an email with a link to join the alpha.

icandoitbetter2• 15 years ago

Not for everyone. I didn't get one.

Nicolas___• 15 years ago

It would be nice to have some specific informations about what you guys are building, on top of the utopic vision email you send monthly.

Many people are interested by the project, but you have to realize we already know why we are interested.

noarchy• 15 years ago

At this point it seems more like a reminder that they exist. The project isn't in beta yet, and the alpha has been dragging on for longer than many had probably anticipated. In that time, G+ has arrived, gone through beta, and has fully launched.

zer0her0• 15 years ago

I'm happy there is an "open" option and all but I'm sort of put off by their "message" it seems to be very sophomoric statements of "hey hey we're here, look at us, we did this first!" to which I can't help but reply "did what first? what the heck are you actually doing, no i don't want to spend my free time looking through your code or waiting for an invite"

jonnathanson2• 15 years ago

Some advice on your messaging: if you're trying to solicit hackers to help out on the project, tell them why they should want in. Give them a reason to believe. "A brighter future for us all" is vague. It has no particular meaning.

If you want to convince someone, you've got to figure out what he really wants. Then you've got to speak to it. And that desire is probably a little more immediate and concrete than "a brighter future." It has to be something specific, something tangible, and something that your target audience believes he can actually achieve if he pitches in.

What are you offering your contributors? Is it experience? A great open-source community? (Are there any noteworthy members of said community? A little name drop never hurts, if done tactfully). And what, precisely, are you trying to build at this stage in the game?

Then, when you target would-be users, answer this: why is a distributed social networking service better than a walled garden? For the end user, convenience tends to trump everything. Barring a few vocal malcontents, most Facebook users don't really give all that much of a hoot that Facebook "controls" the entire site. Ditto G+. Explain to these users why they benefit from an open-source, distributed SNS. (And hopefully this benefit far exceeds any temporary inconvenience associated with figuring out how to use it).

Finally, you might want to split these blog posts / messages by target audience. Have developer-facing posts, and non-technical-user-facing posts. Try to speak to both audiences at once, and you're neither fish nor fowl.

Best of luck to you. I am certainly pulling for you, and for your concept in general.

MatthewPhillips2• 15 years ago

Diaspora won't overtake Facebook or Google+, but it might convince them to hook into their distributed network. Especially since it's no real threat. If Diaspora can become to social networks what Trackback is to blogs, that will be enough of a success.

jonnathanson2• 15 years ago

Agreed, though I'd like for that goal to be articulated. Vision statements like this one should have concrete visions as well as lofty goals (i.e., "building a brighter future.")

hollerith• 15 years ago

Tangent: are trackbacks in any way a success? Do you for example know anyone who uses them or pays attention to them? Are they useful to certain softwares?

uvTwitch• 15 years ago

'A Brighter Future' is actually a pretty distinctive message; Diaspora have really, really well lit offices.

Diaspora* means a brighter future for all of us

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