Why Diaspora's Business Model is so successful?

Diaspora is a nonprofit, user-owned, distributed social network that is based upon the free Diaspora software. Diaspora consists of a group of independently owned nodes (called pods) which interoperate to form the network. As of March 2014, there are more than 1 million Diaspora accounts. In September 2011 the developers stated, "...our distributed design means no big corporation will ever control Diaspora. Diaspora* will never sell your social life to advertisers, and you won’t have to conform to someone’s arbitrary rules or look over your shoulder before you speak."

Social impact: self-transcendence

Life changing: provides hope, self-actualization, affiliation/belonging

Emotional: rewards me, badge value, fun/entertainment, attractiveness, provides access, design/aesthetics

Functional: organizes, connects, variety, informs, integrates, organizes, saves time, avoids hassles, sensory appeal

Aikido:

The aikido business model is often characterized as using a competitor's strength to get an edge over them. This is accomplished through finding weaknesses in a competitor's strategic position. In addition, it adds to marketing sustainability by exposing rivals' flaws, finding internal and external areas for development, and attracting consumers via specific product offers that deviate from the norm.

Collaborative production:

Producing goods in collaboration with customers based on their input, comments, naming, and price. It represents a new form of the socioeconomic output in which enormous individuals collaborate (usually over the internet). In general, initiatives based on the commons have less rigid hierarchical structures than those found on more conventional commercial models. However, sometimes not always?commons-based enterprises are structured so that contributors are not compensated financially.

Community-funded:

The critical resource in this business strategy is a community's intellect. Three distinct consumer groups comprise this multifaceted business model: believers, suppliers, and purchasers. First, believers join the online community platform and contribute to the production of goods by vendors. Second, buyers purchase these goods, which may be visual, aural, or literary in nature. Finally, believers may be purchasers or providers, and vice versa.

Crowdfunding:

Crowdfunding is the technique by which a large number of people contribute to a project. Contribute modest sums of money to support a new business endeavor. Crowdfunding leverages the ease of accessing vast networks of people, connecting investors and entrepreneurs through social media and crowdfunding websites. It can increase entrepreneurialism by widening the pool of investors further than the traditional ring of owners, relatives, and venture capitalists.

Donationware:

Donationware is a software license arrangement that provides users with fully functional, unrestricted software in exchange for an optional contribution to the creator or a third-party beneficiary (usually a non-profit). The author may optionally specify the amount of the assistance, or it may be left to the user's choice, depending on their subjective assessment of the software's worth.

Low-budget innovation:

Fast-moving consumer goods businesses produce co-created items with early adopters through sample testing based on user observation and involvement. As a result, fast-moving consumer goods businesses may obtain a greater new product success rate while incurring fewer development expenses via a low-budget innovation business strategy. That is referred to as low-budget innovation.

Nonprofit organization:

The nonprofit world rarely engages in equally clear and succinct conversations about an organization’s long-term funding strategy. It works on funds and provides services to the user free of cost. That is because the different types of funding that fuel nonprofits have never been clearly defined. A nonprofit organization is often dedicated to furthering a particular social cause or advocating for a particular point of view. In economic terms, a nonprofit organization uses its surplus revenues to further achieve its purpose or mission, rather than distributing its surplus income to the organization's shareholders (or equivalents) as profit or dividends.

Open-source:

Compared to more centralized development methods, such as those usually employed by commercial software firms, the open-source model is more decentralized. Scientists see the open-source approach as an example of collaborative openness. Peer production is a fundamental concept of open-source software development, with deliverables such as source code, blueprints, and documentation made freely accessible to the public. The open-source software movement started as a reaction to the constraints imposed by proprietary programming. Since then, its ideas have extended to other areas, resulting in what is known as open cooperation. Typically, money is generated via services that complement the product, such as advising and maintenance.

Power on:

This method allows the modification of current structures via the use of cutting-edge technology, as shown by growing political unrest, a crisis in representation and governance, and upstart companies upending established sectors. Nevertheless, the nature of this transition is often exaggerated or severely underestimated. As a result, some cling to delirious fantasies of a new techno-utopia in which greater connection results in direct democracy and wealth.

Selling of branded merchandise:

Merchandising, in the broadest definition, is any activity that helps sell goods to a retail customer. At the retail in-store level, merchandising refers to the range of goods offered for sale and the presentation of those products in a manner that piques consumers' attention and encourages them to make a purchase. Like the Mozilla Foundation and Wikimedia Foundation, specific open-source organizations offer branded goods such as t-shirts and coffee mugs. This may also be seen as an added service to the user community.

Take the wheel:

Historically, the fundamental principles for generating and extracting economic value were rigorous. Businesses attempted to implement the same business concepts more effectively than their rivals. New sources of sustained competitive advantage are often only accessible via business model reinvention driven by disruptive innovation rather than incremental change or continuous improvement.