Facebook, the world's largest social network, is also a big multinational corporation. This means that Facebook serves the bottom-line: making money. Like any other corporation Facebook does not necessarily have your (the stakeholder's) best interests at heart. Facebook has demonstrated over the years that they will ignore the concerns and interests of their users, the community that has helped to make Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg very very rich.

If you want a thorough backstory of Facebook's privacy issues check out Ruby's article Facebook: The Future or Failure? , or if you'd prefer the infographic version check out Matt McKeon's chart The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook. Long story short, Facebook began as a private network where you could share information with the people you wanted to. Now due to Facebook's steady complexification of user account privacy settings, controlling who can see your personal information has become "maddening complex", as Ryan Singer recently put it in Wired. On top of these issues, since 2006 Facebook users have, largely unbeknownst to them, been giving away their personal information to third-party companies whose applications or games they use. Facebook's platform is also 'closed source'. If you're a developer trying to find ways to pull traffic away from the time-sucking pit Facebook has become you're at the whim of their platform.

It would appear that a lot of people are fed up with Facebook's tactics. Facebook, the corporation, does not seem to be listening to the feedback of the community that has made Facebook the hub for private social networking that it is, and is continuing to try to turn Facebook into a public social networking site. Yet despite this, Facebook continues to be used by people who are uncomfortable with the company's practices, but who are loathe to give up the connection to friends and family the site provides.

Well, the tide may be beginning to change. Finally, it seems as if a critical threshold of people have begun to push for an open alternative to Facebook. And luckily, four New York University students have set out on the hugely ambitious project of creating one.

Behold, Diaspora

The Diaspora Project started out with the goal of raising 100 thousand dollars by June 1st toward developing the open-source alternative to Facbeook. And 12 days into their fundraising they have met their goal.

It is our one and only goal to get Diaspora in the hands of every man, woman, and child at summer’s end. September 2010 will signify the release of the project in its first iteration, fully open-sourced under the GPL.

What does an open-source alternative to Facebook mean to you? Come September you and everyone else around the world will be able to install your very own "seed" - a personal web server - which will allow you to collect and post statuses, photos, videos, etc. and then share them within the larger network. The seed itself belongs to you, and its connection to the greater community is determined by you and can be thoroughly secured.

Whether or not Diaspora can maintain the attention of beleaguered Facebookers and other social networking types up until that release date is yet to be seen. That said, this is definitely an exciting prospect for the four men from New York University, and the project has the potential to put the power back into the user's hands.