Diaspora is an open-source and distributed community of social networks run by users that enables you to own your own personal data, control with whom you share, and discover cool stuff throughout the Web

The world of social media was forever changed by the development of Myspace. When it was first released it was by far the most popular form of social networking on the internet. Don’t get me wrong, Myspace is still used by millions of people world wide, it is just that the quality of content and user interaction has gone down drastically. Spammy profiles with very little beneficial content for anyone rule the Myspace network. Many people were getting tired of the low quality service Myspace was providing and this made the market ripe for a new social network; enter Facebook.

Facebook took the basic idea that Myspace started with and made it better. People actually started using it to connect with friends and family. The overall point behind social media. It was not the advertising pit that Myspace has become. With as quickly as Facebook has come onto the scene, the company has done extremely well. This is pretty obvious to anyone who pays attention to the news. Facebook is frequently discussed in the media, whether it be newspaper, magazines, television or the internet. If you are not aware of the social media giant Facebook please climb back under your rock. There have been several controversies surrounding Facebook, the most notable was regarding the subject of user privacy and data ownership.

The original terms of service basically stated that Facebook had the rights to pictures, video, content, pretty much anything you posted on your personal Facebook page.

Most people don’t read the TOS before registering for anything on the internet and were quite surprised when they discovered Facebook owned everything they had posted. To some this was disconcerting and for others they didn’t really care. However, the firestorm of discussion that ensued caused Facebook to change their TOS and privacy settings. Now they only own the pictures and information posted on Facebook if the privacy settings allow it. This brought about another controversy as many people are not tech savvy enough to understand how to change the settings. So in that case their information is free game for Facebook to use however they see fit, even after a page is deleted.

This is not the way social networks should handle user information and data. It just doesn’t seem ethical for a corporation that is successful because of its users to have the ability to make money by selling the personal information of those who made them profitable in the first place. The developers of Diaspora felt so strongly about user privacy that they decided to create their own social network that gives the power to the users.

• What is Diaspora?

Here is the official about information, “Diaspora is an open-source and distributed community of social networks run by users that enables you to own your own personal data, control with whom you share, and discover cool stuff throughout the Web”

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Diaspora is a social network that is currently in its Alpha stages. It is all open source technology and is being lead by a team of developers, however a large community of users also help with the coding. They actually have a Github for Diaspora, https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora, where you can track the progress or help in the process if you feel so inclined.

• Why do we need another social network?

The idea for Diaspora comes from its definition. Diaspora – any group migration or flight from a country or region. It is time for people to leave their current social networks and migrate to one that is private, user controlled, and not corporate owned. Facebook is pushing users away as they realize the implications of Facebook owning the hundreds or even thousands of photos they have published over the years. They are causing the Diaspora.

• What makes it different from any other social network?

Diaspora is different for many reasons, but the most important aspect of the network is that everything you post or upload is your property, forever and always. There are no hidden clauses or agendas for storing your personal information. Diaspora is slightly different than any social network before, because it is made up of several sub networks that all interconnect to make Diaspora as a whole. You can have your own Diaspora “pod”(server) for just you and your friends, or you and your family. Or you have the option of joining a much larger “pod” that already exists and start interacting with the community.

• What is a “pod”?

A pod is basically a server for the Diaspora platform. So families can have their own “Smith” pod in which only the family has access. In this case they could freely share family information, news, pictures with each other, with peace of mind knowing the pod is “owned” by the family and the data is secure. It allows for more realistic interactions as family members are not worried about friends or co-workers reading or seeing something that was not intended.

• What are the potential SEO benefits of Diaspora?

Well, any links pointing to your site are beneficial as long as they come from reputable sources. So any links emanating towards your website from Diaspora will most likely hold more weight than links from say Myspace. However, the greatest benefit of social networking for SEO is just that, the networking. You need to meet people and spread the word about your quality product or service. It is not clear whether Diaspora will be a great platform for this. As each pod will have its own rules set by the host, it will be up to the pod to determine whether self promotion is acceptable.

I am quite confident there will be pods dedicated to SEO and SEO networking. How helpful these connections will be is impossible to say. It does seem like Diaspora is built for the users, by the users. In hopes that people will use social networks for “real” conversations. Not mindless banter and pointless status updates.