Can Developers Craft Their Own Social Networks?
oaklandwatch writes:
We made a mistake, argues developer Andrew Duensing. We let the world's social networks become profit-driven enterprises. "We don't really tolerate it for almost any other centers of community (like book clubs, churches/mosques/temples, running groups, schools)," Duensing says. "But for some reason, we tolerate it as soon as it becomes 1s and 0s?
"I want to show that there isn't necessarily an economic reason it has to be that way."
He's one of several developers who've discovered another secret about social networks: they're actually really easy to build. The article identifies at least three developers who have now coded up their own social networks, just for friends and interaction (and never for profit). Like a backyard barbecue that didn't feel the need for a sponsor.
And because they're privately owned, they can explore entirely new ideas. Alex Ghiculescu and Jillian Schuller are the creators of a special social network designed to be checked just once a week -- on Sunday.
Robert Louis Stevenson once argued that to know what you prefer, "instead of humbly saying 'Amen' to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to keep your soul alive." And in the same way, after crafting her own social media platform, Schuller acknowledges that "the experience in building it was very cathartic, and the most contented I've ever felt, building something that I knew was worthwhile."
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