Tom Cledwyn
Soon to launch, UNTHINK describes itself as a “social revolution” rather than a social network. They’ve supposedly kicked back against the tyranny of modern day social networks and the say they have our own privacy.
The buzz is pretty exciting but as yet, there’s no real evidence from anyone as to what differentiates them from Facebook and the rest, apart from their manefesto and they certainly aren’t giving away much on their Twitter page. Their motive is sound and is increasingly justified in an online environment where our personal information, preferences and intimate connections are becoming less and less ‘ours’. There is a time for social networking which is less intrusive, less profit hungry – but how is it going to be done? The @prnewschannel gave their thoughts on the imminent launch which is worth a read here. Here’s an extract…
In 2007, UNTHINK’s founders studied Facebook’s terms of service and business model and decided to research further. “We came to discover that they were baiting users by offering them a ‘free’ service and in exchange they were taking away their FREEDOM,” says UNTHINK founder and chief legal officer Spiro Verras. “Users were then subjected to endless redesigns and term changes, in effect treated as guinea pigs as Facebook tried to make money.” The UNTHINK team realized that this was a platform of control with the intention of creating a “walled garden” with the potential to undo the democratic web.
UNTHINK has invited people to apply for their profiles. I’m still waiting for mine and haven’t found any evidence of anyone receiving one yet but I’m sure we’ll know as soon as they arrive. In the mean time, they’ve posted a youtube video that’s pretty ballsy their efforts to at least scare us into giving it a go which is an understandable tactic.
Whatever happens this will be interesting. There is a lot of clout behind UNTHINK with regard to the time and people that has already gone into the project. The big question which really underlies it’s possible success is whether people are going to be prepared to give up everything they’ve invested into Facebook up until this point as as much as many people are fearful of the stranglehold Facebook has over us I’m not sure many user care enough. They’ll need a lot in return.