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A public protocol and a reference implementation of a social network. The problem is stabilized, it's time to do to social networks what SMTP did to email. Open

A public protocol and a reference implementation of a social network. The problem is stabilized, it's time to do to social networks what SMTP did to email. Open it up to be fully decentralized, where people can host their social hub or use a hosting service, of which there would spring up a multitude. Social networking is nowadays as central to the internet as email, and it is the first such, heavily used, application layer "protocol" that is closed. For a small period of time I had hopes that this would be the path G+ would take to the top. It isn't.

viraptor 13y ago
Isn't that what diaspora is? https://diasporafoundation.org/ https://diasporafoundation.org/
- cha-cho 13y ago
  Diaspora does offer decentralization. A node servicing a social network can be hosted almost anywhere. I was very excited about that project early (and it still has potential) but ultimately I don't believe its backend oriented advantages are going to woo people away from centralization. In other words, to average users it looks very much like a FaceBook knockoff. I believe integrating social networking into email might be the most promising approach. I've always thought a "ShareBox" icon below my Inbox icon would allow social networking to decentralize in a way that would appeal to end users.
deleted 13y ago
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aspidistra 13y ago
Something like Tent? https://tent.io https://tent.io
- coolsunglasses 13y ago
  Are there any implementations or user-friendly frontend webapps designed to interoperate?
  - aspidistra 13y ago
    There was, at one point, a Twitter clone running at http://tent.is http://tent.is. But that now redirects to cupcake.io, which runs a tent hosting service. There are some projects on the tent Github page but nothing with activity less than months old: https://github.com/tent https://github.com/tent
- sergiosgc 13y ago
  Tent looks incredibly cool. The protocol looks clean. There's work to be done on interesting front ends on top of this, but so far it is interesting.
bmadden 13y ago
Shameless plug for a research project going on at my school: https://priv.io/ https://priv.io/ can replace most social networks you can think of in a decentralized, private, encrypted manner. I'm not personally involved in the project.

viraptor 13y ago

Isn't that what diaspora is? https://diasporafoundation.org/ https://diasporafoundation.org/

cha-cho 13y ago
Diaspora does offer decentralization. A node servicing a social network can be hosted almost anywhere. I was very excited about that project early (and it still has potential) but ultimately I don't believe its backend oriented advantages are going to woo people away from centralization. In other words, to average users it looks very much like a FaceBook knockoff. I believe integrating social networking into email might be the most promising approach. I've always thought a "ShareBox" icon below my Inbox icon would allow social networking to decentralize in a way that would appeal to end users.

deleted 13y ago

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aspidistra 13y ago

Something like Tent? https://tent.io https://tent.io

coolsunglasses 13y ago
Are there any implementations or user-friendly frontend webapps designed to interoperate?
- aspidistra 13y ago
  There was, at one point, a Twitter clone running at http://tent.is http://tent.is. But that now redirects to cupcake.io, which runs a tent hosting service. There are some projects on the tent Github page but nothing with activity less than months old: https://github.com/tent https://github.com/tent
sergiosgc 13y ago
Tent looks incredibly cool. The protocol looks clean. There's work to be done on interesting front ends on top of this, but so far it is interesting.

bmadden 13y ago

Shameless plug for a research project going on at my school: https://priv.io/ https://priv.io/ can replace most social networks you can think of in a decentralized, private, encrypted manner. I'm not personally involved in the project.