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Comment by shmerl | Hacker News Reader

> We already know that if you use an online social network, you give up a serious slice of your privacy thanks to the omnivorous way companies like Google and Facebook gather your personal data.

Not so, if you use a privacy respecting one like Diaspora*. Not that it offers a robust protection against either attackers or the Big Brother. But the network itself is not built to profit from users' data which is a huge difference in attitude.

It's annoying that such articles take it for granted that social network = FB / G+ way of doing things.

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>It's annoying that such articles take it for granted that social network = FB / G+ way of doing things.

It's annoying when people are uptight about something that's merely pragmatic. They're talking about social networks people use and know about.

Including Diaspora, a network almost no one has ever heard about, would be completely counter intuitive. Diaspora simply isn't an alternative for the overwhelming majority of users of active social networks.

> Diaspora simply isn't an alternative for the overwhelming majority of users of active social networks.

That's bunk, simply because people already use it and it is a functional alternative.

It's not unreasonable to assume Google/Facebook considering their market share (especially if you count Google's control over Android). http://www.marketingcharts.com/updates/top-10-social-network...

Market share doesn't preclude the existence of choice. So the article shouldn't put it as if there aren't any better alternatives.

In the case of social networks where a network is only as useful as the other people on it, it might not necessitate that there is no alternative but practically there isn't.

Diaspora* is quite useful for a constantly growing number of users.

Your thesis however is wrong, which is demonstrated by the fact that any network starts with no users. I.e. any network goes through the growth process, when newcomers see it as rather barren in the early days. Diaspora* isn't at that stage anymore.

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