Diaspora* is an Open-Source initiative towards building an open social web. This isn’t just another social network, this is a new way of thinking.

Think of it like this: I love Google+, you like Facebook. You’re my brother and I’d like to stay up to date with all the pictures of your kids, but unless one of us using a social network we don’t like, that isn’t going to happen. If both Google+ and Facebook followed Diaspora’s model though, we wouldn’t have that problem. We could each use the service we liked best, but still stay up to date with each other’s posts.

Sounds pretty great, huh?

The tough thing about something like Diaspora is building user-base. Which, if you think about it, is kinda contrary to the idea of Diaspora. Diaspora is about a decentralized social web. It’s about privacy. It’s about sharing what you want with who you want, no mater what service they use. Like I said before, Diaspora is about changing the way the social web works, and the way that people think about it.

Diaspora works using what’s called “Pods” that communicate with one another. Using their method of communication people using different “Pods” are able to share one with another. A “Pod” is like Facebook, or Twitter, or Google+. All different services, but if they were Diaspora Pods they could communicate with each other.

If you’re interested you can go to JoinDiaspora.com and request an invite, or go to Pod Up to find another pod that doesn’t make you wait for an invite. Remember, it doesn’t matter what pod you join, because all the pods are interconnected.