Diaspora (social network)
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Screenshot
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Type of site
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Social networking |
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| Available in | Various |
| Owner | None |
| Slogan(s) | "The online social world where you are in control" |
| Website | DiasporaFoundation.org |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Yes |
| Users | 667,000+ |
| Launched | November 2010 |
| Current status | Active |
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Content license
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GNU-AGPL-3.0 |
Diaspora is a nonprofit, user-owned, distributed social network that is based upon the free Diaspora software. Diaspora consists of a group of independently owned nodes (called pods) which interoperate to form the network. As of March 2014, there are more than 1 million Diaspora accounts.
The social network is not owned by any one person or entity, keeping it from being subject to corporate take-overs or advertising. In September 2011 the developers stated, "...our distributed design means no big corporation will ever control Diaspora. Diaspora* will never sell your social life to advertisers, and you won’t have to conform to someone’s arbitrary rules or look over your shoulder before you speak."
Diaspora software is licensed with GNU-AGPL-3.0. Diaspora software development is managed by the Diaspora Foundation, which is part of the Free Software Support Network (FSSN). The FSSN is in turn run by Eben Moglen and the Software Freedom Law Center. The FSSN acts as an umbrella organization to Diaspora development and manages Diaspora's branding, finances and legal assets.
The Diaspora social network is constructed of a network of nodes, or pods, hosted by many different individuals and institutions. Each node operates a copy of the Diaspora software acting as a personal web server. Users of the network can host a pod on their own server or create an account on any existing pod of their choice, and from that pod can interact with other users on all other pods.
Friendica instances are also a part of the Diaspora social network through the Friendica Diaspora connector.
Diaspora users retain ownership of their data and do not assign ownership rights. The software is specifically designed to allow users to download all their images and text that has been uploaded at any time.
The Diaspora software allows user posts to be designated as either "public" or "limited". In the latter case, posts may only be read by people assigned to one of the groups, termed aspects, which the user has approved to view the post. Each new account is assigned several default aspects – friends, family, work and acquaintances – and the user can add as many custom aspects as they like. It is possible to follow another user's public posts without the mutual friending required by other social networks. Users can also send private messages, called conversations. A user can filter their news stream by aspect.
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Wikipedia