It's hard to see this getting traction now, but I'm still glad it exists. Maybe Facebook will somehow fuck up badly enough to push people onto Diaspora, although I can't really see how at this point.
Sadly I think that Google and FB would need to fuck up at the same time (when hell freezes over). All the people I know who avoid FB are proudly on G+, for reasons I don't understand.
> FB are proudly on G+, for reasons I don't understand.
A couple reasons I've heard/seen:
* Lots of folks are more trusting of Google with their data than they are of Facebook
* Somewhat related to the above, circle management is a lot easier to get/use than Facebook's groups, and privacy management tends to be easier on G+ as a result
* Facebook makes terrible mobile applications and Google+ has the nicest mobile client for a social networking site
That's why facebook does small releases of beta features to gauge user feedback. They don't want to piss off lots of people at once. And whenever they make a large change to the settings, they make an equally large change to the UI so that people discuss the new look rather than the concerns over the settings.
They've become too smart to lose their place as #1.
> They've become too smart to lose their place as #1.
You don't believe that'll last forever, do you?
Facebook can innovate until the wee hours of the morning, but if a significant social group (I'm thinking young people, but I suppose it doesn't have to be) goes with another platform simply for fashion reasons, Facebook could slowly die off as users migrate away.
Joining Diaspora doesn't count for much in itself. I just checked and I have nine "real life" friends on Diaspora, but the last time any of them posted there was four months ago. Posting there is basically posting into a black hole. I used to post there and do the "share on Facebook" thing, but that doesn't seem to have worked for a while.
This tells more about the fact that you couldn't find a way to apply Diaspora usefully, rather than about the absolute lack of audience.
I have barely any contacts there whom I know personally or knew before I joined Diaspora. Still I find Diaspora conversations with many different users engaging and don't see it as a black hole by any means.
You are trying to compare it to Facebook, which is wrong. Massive user base of Facebook makes chances of finding familiar contacts there way higher. You can't expect the same thing in Diaspora which is a very young network. I see Diaspora as a place for conversations and ideas, not as a place to find people whom you already know from before. If you approach it the right way - you get a lot out of it.
Also, you have to master using hashtags if you want to have any meaningful feedback from Diaspora. Using it like Facebook will result exactly in black hole experience you described. So try changing your mindset when using it. Diaspora is not a Facebook clone.
