Diaspora is a different kind of social network. Instead of being one massive set of servers being managed by a single company, Diaspora is distributed, with multiple outfits each providing a server or servers, all running the same software. Each one is called a pod. As a result, you have to pick a pod to enroll at and that becomes your login point. But once you’re logged in, all of the servers in the system operate together to present the content of users world-wide.
Once you’re in the network, you’ll find an experience that’s more like Instagram than it is Facebook. An interesting feature is called Aspects, somewhat similar to the “circles” that Google+ had (remember that?). You can make a post Public or post only to one of the Aspects where you’ve added contacts. Besides following contacts, you can also follow hashtags, which users are encouraged to use. There’s even special handling of a #nsfw tag, to keep adult content away from your screen when you can’t look at it right now.
If you’re interested, check out my pod, pod.jns.im, or go to https://diasporafoundation.org/ to pick your own. I’m user leenysman@pod.jns.im.
Published on June 06, 2020 16:53