Reconsidering Diaspora ...

Never have really gotten with the program on Diaspora. I try to remember to drop in and see how it's coming along every now and again when something reminds me to. Today was one of those occasions:

A sustained clampdown on the Twitter presence of Islamic State (IS) has forced the hardline jihadist group to explore less well-known social media platforms, setting up a string of accounts on the privacy-focused Diaspora.

Not that I have any sympathy for Islamic State, mind you. They don't appear to be any better than most states (in fact, they seem to be a good deal worse than most states in ways that are important to me).

But to the extent that I'm interested in what IS is up to, I'd rather my social networks didn't decide for me whether or not I can hear about it directly from them.

Twitter and Facebook (and probably Google Plus, although I've never noticed one way or the other), for whatever reasons, aren't content to serve as neutral content delivery platforms. They take it upon themselves to decide what I'm allowed or not allowed to see over their networks, preemptively substituting their preferences for my own, possibly contrary, preferences.

So anyway,  Diaspora seems to be coming along nicely as a social networking framework. Hopefully IFTTT will be along with a Diaspora "channel" some time soon.