On 28/05/10 22:16, Nathan wrote: > Miron Cuperman wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> We have a common goal. We would like people to control their destiny by >> moving from proprietary social networks to distributed ones (dsns). >> >> However, social networks are like the Internet and the telephone, and >> unlike, for example, Mailman or PHP. Mailman and PHP are tools. You >> pick them up, use them, deploy them, then put them aside for awhile. A >> social network is only useful when used in collaboration with your >> friends and under daily engagement. A social network has very different >> adoption dynamics from the tools that you used or helped develop. >> >> For a new social network to succeed, its adoption cannot be >> incremental. It has to be a rapid exponential. After you join, 10 of >> your friends must join within 3 days, and 50 within 3 months. Otherwise >> it will fail, just like others have failed. (I think the Diaspora guys >> get the adoption part. I don't know about their tech...) >> >> Your intuition is that you can incrementally develop a system and that >> it will be incrementally implemented and adopted. This intuition is >> wrong. >> >> The only way to succeed is to have a "big bang" release. There must be >> an adoption date chosen and a compelling message (like "quit FB day", >> but with a positive alternative). There has to be an easy to adopt dsn >> that is not too fragmented or confusing. Usability has to be >> excellent. There has to be virality built in. You must be encouraged >> to invite your friends and it is easy to do so. The default message to >> your friends must be compelling. You must be able to find your friends >> if they are already on. The user experience must be on par with what >> they are used to. > > If you've got an open decentralized social network.. then why would > you need to invite anybody? to where exactly? and why a 'big bang', I > can see why if you're 'just another silo' trying to play catch up with > twitter, facebook et al - but not for this - unless of course, I > completely misunderstand what everybodies thinking & talking about. > > Regardless though, virality (?sp), is completely built in - make good, > useful tools, where the user controls their own destiny+data, and > you're done - build it well and the masses will come, build it badly > and.. well no loss in the scheme of things because other will build > good things :) > > AFAICT, this isn't really a flash in the pan thing, a miss it and > you've messed up scenario - this is the ground work for the next > generation of the web - pretty much an unstoppable movement. >
I completely agree with this view of decentralization... there is no way to stop it and not so much need to go fast, although all the better if it does :) kisses P
