These guys are hitting big in the geek world right now. They're attempting to build a new kind of social network that [allegedly] more accurately mimics real social behavior. They plan to provide a system that allows the sharing of content while maintaining privacy through the permission of the user. This feature will be inherent in the network, not a feature; an anti-Facebook, if you will.

They have a point. We don't toss up random tidbits of information and "status updates" onto the interwebs for our "friends" to see and call it a community. Although we've accepted Facebook's take on how social networks should operate, it certainly doesn't reflect reality. Outside of Facebook, we share [trade] information [experiences] on a more personal level in varying degrees of intimacy, slowly accumulating what was once known as "friends" - valuable people in our social lives in whom we can trust for various things.

And Diaspora couldn't have come at a more opportune time. The four-man underdog team of self-proclaimed nerds from New York have well-surpassed their $10,000 [they're on the north side of 100K last time I checked] goal for seed funding at Kickstarter and are spending the summer in "programmer mode". The announcement comes while Facebook is under fire for its confusing privacy settings and some statements made by its young CEO when Facebook was in its infancy. Amidst the media smoke and the labyrinth of the new Facebook privacy settings, Diaspora is an attractive alternative for weary photo-sharers and friend-connectors.

I'm not holding my breath, but if these guys have the chops, I do think they have a viable social networking model. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they were bought out sometime in the near future. Facebook isn't going anywhere anytime soon, but if these guys can execute, I'd be highly interested in their work.