Diaspora is Lonely

By Jake • August 23rd, 2011 • 8 Comments

I guess a migration (diaspora) could begin as a lonely experience, but damn, Diaspora is a lonely place.

You remember Diaspora, the open alternative to Facebook that kicked off with much fanfare in May 2010? Kinda the anti-Facebook. Anyway, I got an invitation to join over the weekend and decided to kick the tires.

Paul (@ppedrazzi) once evaluated a social network as lonely, meaning when you joined, there wasn’t any activity. This resonated with me, and it’s incredibly key to a social experience. No activity, no social. Why would anyone want to join a mute party?

Back in the day (OK, back in 2007), joining social networks was more about collecting than activity. You built a network each time, but that was fine.

Today, with so many options, content is king. When I join a network, I want to evaluate its value to me immediately. There are just too many competing channels to start from scratch. Google Plus gets this; Diaspora does not.

This is probably on purpose, as the anti-Facebook, and I’m sure Diaspora will do just fine among people who have grown weary of Facebook’s terms and its ubiquity.

However, I’m afraid it dooms the service for me. Same reason Identica, Plurk and Jaiku didn’t replace Twitter.

Too much work. Sad, but true.


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  • http://bentrem.sycks.net bentrem

    I agree.
    Something many of us noticed on G+ was that comment threads had legs. Not unusual to have 3, 4, more comments on a slight post. Likewise not unusual to have a thread live for a coupel of days, sometimes more.
    Not sure it’s as vibrant as it was during the initial honeymoon stage, but still far more active than typical blogs. (Just why? Not sure anybody has that figured out.)

    Interaction is key. Without meaningful exchange, I’ll suggest that “social” ain’t.

    cheers
    –ben

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Exactly, I like that too, kinda like Quora. The reason is that it’s easy to find activity, and you’re not alone. Diaspora right now is a wasteland.

  • http://blogs.oracle.com/userassistance/ uvox

    Not having an invite, hard to say, but definitely, if this is too much work who wants to use it. No prizes (or friends) for effort. Never got the whole Jaiku thing, seemed like the same old celebrity geeks pushing it in my neck of the woods. So Diaspora more than one year on is still in alpha? Doomed.

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    I could invite you :) It’s a pretty standard stream-based app, nice and clean.

  • http://blogs.oracle.com/userassistance/ uvox

    sure, why not..

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Try not to get too exited.

  • http://blogs.oracle.com/userassistance/ uvox

    See what you mean. If Morrissey and the Smiths did UX this would be it.

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    UX in a coma. It’s really serious.