Re: [Social-discuss] What should GNU social be?

[Ryan Prior]

On Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 5:55 PM, Matt Lee <address@hidden> wrote:
> Should GNU social be a straight up replacement for existing social
> networks? I don't think so.
>
> Should GNU social include the creation of a protocol for decentralized,
> encrypted communication between social networks? I think it should.
> . . .
> We may decide to create a simple, Facebook-type UI as a demo for
> one of the possible applications of GNU social, but let's also consider
> the future and other ideas for social software.

Hey Matt,

I agree with you totally on your second point, but I think that we do
need to create a straight-up replacement for existing social networks.

The #1 thing that I want to bring out of GNU Social is a response to
the question "What else should I use?". If I see somebody frustrated
with Facebook and have a conversation about how it's harmful to trust
all your social data to a closed network, that conversation can only
go so far: whereas I can suggest to a disgruntled Windows or Mac user
that GNU offers a great alternative, I have no such offering for the
unhappy Facebook/Twitter/Myspace/LinkedIn user.

First of all, I brace at hearing "simple, Facebook-type UI."
Facebook's UI is not simple, and creating a UI which is as usable and
accessible as Facebook's is one of the major challenges facing us. We
need to do better than Facebook if we want this to fly, and to do so
we need to engage designers and user experience architects in this
problem and include the creation of a beautiful, usable, Free social
networking site as a core value.

I think we can take the successful and wonderful Miro project
(http://www.getmiro.com/) as an example of this. They created a
top-notch video site called Miro Guide (https://miroguide.com/) for
use with their Free video management and viewing software. Now they
have opened up their software to help communities create their own
video sharing sites (http://www.mirocommunity.org/). Universities,
media companies, and others are evaluating and deploying Miro
Community to facilitate the spread of media and knowledge.

We can take the same tack with GNU Social: first we create a
first-rate social networking site (called daisycha.in, for example),
then help others to build their own. Because creation of a "protocol
for decentralized, encrypted communication between social networks" is
still a core goal, the new extensions will cooperate along with
daisycha.in and the value of the whole network will grow.

We have the most to gain by focusing now on the immediate need for a
Free replacement for Facebook, creating along the way an enthusiastic
developer following that will help bring the full promise of GNU
Social to fruition. To ignore that need, or treat it as second-class
to the need for a framework or protocol for Free social networks, is
to forfeit a lot of potential momentum.

Thanks for your consideration,
Ryan