Open Diaspora lets you post to the social web

STARTUP SOCIAL NETWORK Diaspora is almost finished sending out invites to its service and reckons to have hundreds of thousands of waiting users.

The distributed social network, which aims to be more open than the others and leaves control of its users' data to its users, has not turned its back on the competition and, according to its creators, will let users post direct to Facebook or Twitter from within its loose and rather flexible walls.

However, the competition does seem to be part of the Diaspora focus. For example, while Google+ has a real name policy, there is no real name policy here. Individuals can run their own social networks within Diaspora, which means that they have no ties to a much bigger machine, like Facebook for example, which often changes the way that users' information is shared before telling the users.

"This means you can do what you want. You can express yourself candidly, and be your authentic self. You can go by whatever name you like on Diaspora," said the group in an email to users, including The INQUIRER.

"Pseudonyms are fine, and this both protects you (if you want to say something your boss or your parents disagree with) and opens the door to real connection. This kind of authentic connection brings back the social freedom that made the Internet awesome in the first place. And this is just the beginning."

Diaspora does offer an open hand to users of these other web sites, and perhaps in an acknowledgement that some of them might have a spot in all camps, has added the ability to post to Facebook and Twitter. Soon, they reckon, you will also be able to manage incoming messages from Diaspora too.

Again, this is expected to be handled in a different way than at the other social networking firms. "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 added as it staked a flag in independent ground.

"Over time, this will bring an end to the indifferent, self-serving behavior that people can't stand from the walled gardens that dominate social networking today. When you can vote with your feet for the environment where you feel safest, the big guys will have to shape up, or risk losing you."

Prophetic words, perhaps. µ