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Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

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Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#61
post #49
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really doubt it would be that easy to KO Facebook. Remember Orkut? Google is great at a lot of things, but building online communities is not one of them. Also, as has been pointed out in other discussions: most Facebook users don't care and aren't going to leave unless there's a compelling reason. A lot of their photos are already locked into Facebook -- it's going to take a lot to show them a greener pasture, and…

Orkut is just not popular in your country. Here in Brazil it wasn't until last year that people started even knowing what Facebook/Myspace is. The social rule around here is Orkut + MSN Messenger. Unfortunately it led to a wave of "@hotmail" emails, but that's another thing.

Here in the Netherlands we have 'hyves', and until last year 'hyves' was pretty much 'it'.

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/hyves.nl

says it all.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#62

Rats -- someone here said, "I'd be worried if I was kickstarter at this point...", and as I went to reply to that, they deleted their comment. But it's spot-on. Short term, this is going to bring a lot of publicity and attention towards kickstarter, and that will also benefit the projects on there. If you'd like to launch something via kickstarter, now is the time to do it . Because, odds are, what these guys roll ou…

It isn't over until the fat lady sings. But if I were them I'd shut down the pledge site now, thank everyone and say that if after the launch they feel they need more funding they'll do a second round.

Because of the context, I parsed that as "if I were [Kickstarter] I'd shut down the pledge site now", and was having a hard time following your reasoning. Assuming you meant Diaspora, your point is a lot more reasonable.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#64
post #29

Rats -- someone here said, "I'd be worried if I was kickstarter at this point...", and as I went to reply to that, they deleted their comment. But it's spot-on. Short term, this is going to bring a lot of publicity and attention towards kickstarter, and that will also benefit the projects on there. If you'd like to launch something via kickstarter, now is the time to do it . Because, odds are, what these guys roll ou…

Sorry, that was me. I thought a little bit more about it and decided that I was mostly wrong. The people who donate money on Kickstarter aren't donating with the expectation of a real return. In a sense, they're "voting with their wallet". I don't think people give Diaspora $20 bucks thinking "hey, this is going to be a Facebook killer!", I think they will donate with the idea that they'd like to see someone give it…

Making a comment, deleting it, and then replying to a comment that agreed with it stating that what they are agreeing with you upon is wrong is an interesting way of creating an argument.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#65
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Enough people are pledging different stuff besides just money to give them a serious amount of resources to use, all it takes is for one or two experienced systems architects from the big G, skype or some other project to hop on board and they're going to get a lot more legs. Diasporas biggest negative asset at this point is the egos of the founders, judging by their videos. But then again, who wasn't cocky at 18. Th…

This is the second time in this thread (which I am kicking myself for reading) that someone has intimated that Diaspora is just a couple of Google developers away from being big. No. If Facebook was 2, 10, or 100 top-caliber Google engineers away from a serious challenge, Google would already be seriously challenging Facebook. Google is a CS-hiring force of nature.

Diaspora at this point in time is a signal, not a contender.

I think facebook, for the next couple of years is unassailable, but they should definitely take note.

The facebook brand has been damaged in the last couple of weeks, and the hype around diaspora is damaging it further.

That's the only way in which this will have effect. If they pull it off though (even if they just ship) I'll tip my hat to them.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#66
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the second time in this thread (which I am kicking myself for reading) that someone has intimated that Diaspora is just a couple of Google developers away from being big. No. If Facebook was 2, 10, or 100 top-caliber Google engineers away from a serious challenge, Google would already be seriously challenging Facebook. Google is a CS-hiring force of nature.

Diaspora at this point in time is a signal, not a contender. I think facebook, for the next couple of years is unassailable, but they should definitely take note. The facebook brand has been damaged in the last couple of weeks, and the hype around diaspora is damaging it further. That's the only way in which this will have effect. If they pull it off though (even if they just ship) I'll tip my hat to them.

You didn't address my comment at all; you just repeated the same point you've been making everywhere else about Facebook.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#67
post #52

If they keep this up they'll cross a million bucks in the next 18 days. I'd start to feel a little uncomfortable if I were them by now, $10K is fine, but a million is a serious responsibility, even if it was gathered as small change. The surprising thing to me is how many people pledge fairly large amounts.

Agreed; 10K seems a reasonable "investment" to see if they can come up with the goods. 100K (or more) smacks of people jumping on the current "Down With Facebook" train and not considering what they are putting money into properly. They don't really need 100K - and if it ends up being all about the money it's never going to end well :(

Back of the envelope has this between $250K and 1.5 million if this keeps up.

At this point I think the more money they raise the bigger the chance they'll fail to meet expectations.

Re: Diaspora breaks $100k and all of Kickstarter's records

#69
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't over until the fat lady sings. But if I were them I'd shut down the pledge site now, thank everyone and say that if after the launch they feel they need more funding they'll do a second round.

Because of the context, I parsed that as "if I were [Kickstarter] I'd shut down the pledge site now", and was having a hard time following your reasoning. Assuming you meant Diaspora, your point is a lot more reasonable.

Diaspora, for sure.

Sorry, that reference could have been more clear.

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