Social network seeks to spark Facebook exodus

Online, May 13, 2010 (Newswire.com) - An open-source social network called Zuitty hopes to tap into the backlash against Facebook's privacy policies. Founded by James Turner. Zuitty will let users retain complete control of their information. "So many people think Facebook needs to exist ... I'm making Zuitty because I want to use it," says the site's founder.

A few months back, James, decided to build a social network that wouldn't force people to surrender their privacy to a big business. It would take three or four months to write the code, and he would need a few thousand dollars to live on.

He raised then from out of pocketand supports the site in the same matter.

Like other social networks, the site allows its users to create a profile page and forge online links with friends and acquaintances. It has distinguished itself from rivals, by allowing users to change the appearance of their profile pages and giving them full control of their privacy settings.

"For some strange reason, everyone just agreed with this whole privacy thing."

What Facebook gives you as a user isn't all that hard to do. All the little games, the little walls, the little chat, aren't really rare things. The technology already exists."

The terms of the bargain people make with social networks - you swap personal information for convenient access to their sites - have been shifting, with the companies that operate the networks collecting ever more information about their users. That information can be sold to marketers. Some younger people are becoming more cautious about what they post. "When you give up that data, you're giving it up forever," James said. "The value they give us is negligible in the scale of what they are doing, and what we are giving up is all of our privacy."

The demand for a social network that gives users control is strong, James said. "Everyone I talk to about this says, 'Oh my God, I've been waiting for someone to do something like this.' "