mirror of
https://github.com/kennethreitz-archive/.com.git
synced 2026-06-21 15:51:00 +00:00
Kenneth Reitz
82 lines
4.3 KiB
ReStructuredText
82 lines
4.3 KiB
ReStructuredText
The Call for an Open Source Social Network
|
||
##########################################
|
||
|
||
:date: 2009-08-16 20:16
|
||
:category: Code
|
||
|
||
|
||
Lately, I've been tossing some ideas around that I feel would
|
||
benefit the Social Web as a whole. It’s been going through some
|
||
rough times lately, and I think it’s time for a change. Or so I
|
||
thought. My first idea was to create a site that was rather
|
||
decentralized, allowing all of your content to exist on other
|
||
sites, but still allowing for you to interact without locking a
|
||
user in. As it turns out, this site already exists. It is called
|
||
`FriendFeed <http://friendfeed.com/kennethreitz>`_.
|
||
*`I love FriendFeed <http://kennethreitz.com/blog/friendfeed-is-awesome/>`_*.
|
||
About a week after I decided that I wanted to get into it,
|
||
`Facebook decided to purchase it <http://kennethreitz.com/blog/friendfeed-is-awesome/>`_.
|
||
How sad. They claim that it will still be up and running, but we’ll
|
||
see if that proves to be the case (I have my fingers crossed).
|
||
Pownce (which was powered by Python / Django) was shut down when it
|
||
was purchased. I pray this not be the case. Think about this now:
|
||
**Why is that even an option**? Social networking is all about
|
||
community and building tribes – So why do we need to have an
|
||
organization in charge of our chosen communication platform?
|
||
**Here is my proposal**: Create a community-driven,
|
||
community-developed, and community-controlled social networking
|
||
site that is truly open source. The community could take care of
|
||
everything from feature development to content control. No random
|
||
shutting down, buy-outs, or merges. No more random change of
|
||
Privacy Policies or Content Ownership battles. No more worries. The
|
||
only group of people who would be benefitted would be the community
|
||
itself, not some company. An open minded network full of open
|
||
minded people working for the better of the community. # The Open
|
||
Web of Flow
|
||
|
||
**Step One**: Solid Platform Choice
|
||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
||
|
||
The platform choice is the most important. You've seen what happens
|
||
when the wrong tool is chosen for the job: look at Twitter: Bad
|
||
Planning. We're all familiar with the Fail Whale but we shouldn't.
|
||
At all. So what do we use? There's an array of options. .NET? HAHA!
|
||
Did you know that there's even
|
||
`a social platform built on top of Microsoft's Sharepoint <http://membertomember.com/>`_?
|
||
I bet you didn't. I've installed it a number of times. It's
|
||
fantastic (for people who need it). But we don't. At all. What type
|
||
of open source project aside Mono is driven by NET developers
|
||
anyway? They are in an entirely different mindset than us. Anyway,
|
||
the answer is obvious: Django on a LAMP Stack (Linux + Apache +
|
||
MySql + Python). We can all agree that Python is freaking amazing.
|
||
And it's certianly not going anywhere any time soon. I think google
|
||
has proven time-and time again that Python is the language for just
|
||
about any job. And when Google's unlayden-swallow project is
|
||
complete, all (typically negligible) performance issues will be
|
||
eliminated. Done. ### **Step Two**: Basic Information Architecture
|
||
|
||
We need to decide how the whole system will work. FriendFeed has an
|
||
excellent system in place. Lets use it. Users can tie everything in
|
||
from all of their other websites and steam it on their profile, and
|
||
display it all on one page. Everything's streamlined, commentable,
|
||
hookable, and readily accessible. Google Profiles rock. But that is
|
||
definitely an abandoned project. Lets mix that with a
|
||
FriendFeed-style activity stream. Done. ### **Step Three**:
|
||
Sustainability, Audience, and Accessibility
|
||
|
||
How will we pay for it? How will we get people to contribute? How
|
||
will be get people to use it? Answer: Twitter is getting old and
|
||
it's getting old fast. It's time for something new. Lets blow them
|
||
away and they will ALL hop on board. Allow for easy
|
||
external-account migration and account creation and we'll be
|
||
golden. ### **Step Four**: Technical Planning and Engineering
|
||
|
||
This is all the stuff end users don't have to worry about.
|
||
Performance. Design. System Administration. Database Engineering.
|
||
The geek stuff. I mean come on guys, how awesome would it be to be
|
||
able to make a commit to the Twitter live SVN Branch? Epically
|
||
awesome. ### **Step Five**: Community + Collaboration
|
||
|
||
Once the community gets going, there will be no stopping it. In
|
||
conclusion, think about what we have to lose? Are you with me?
|