Open source Facebook rival goes live

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An open source social network has gone live and the first set of invites have gone out for the alpha version of the site.

Creators behind the new Facebook rival - Diaspora - said they have placed a special focus on privacy and security, whilst giving greater power in the hands of users.

Facebook itself has come under fire for privacy issues in the past year.

“We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how people can share in a private way, and still do all the things people love to do on social networks,” the creators said on a Diaspora blog.

However, the creators admitted security could “be better,” whilst admitting upgrading could be made simpler.

One of the main selling points of Diaspora is its “aspects” feature, which lets users group contacts.

“Diaspora lets you create ‘aspects,’ which are personal lists that let you group people according to the roles they play in your life,”

“We think that aspects are a simple, straightforward, lightweight way to make it really clear who is receiving your posts and who you are receiving posts from. It isn’t perfect, but the best way to improve is to get it into your hands and listen closely to your response.”

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