Is Diaspora dead?

Diaspora, the Kickstarter princess that took on Facebook started with a bang, but now, 6 months after opening it's beta, I see almost no activity.

I scan the member pages and less than 1% have a pic, only 1700 people following #newhere, and those that are following it have not been around for 3-4 months.

Is it dead? Flawed? Too much work? What's the deal?