I wrote this one year ago... I'm reposting it because I think it's still true (even more true now!), and one year after that, reposting it is a way to say thanks to @Evan Prodromou and all the Pump.io hackers (some of them are recipients of this, some others I surely forgot to mention) that make posible life in this #freesoftware #freenetworks Pumpiverse, and send them #goodVibrations for the new challenges they will face now (federation among non-pump networks, polishing the code and new releases, new users that for sure will come...).

The original post was about thinking pump.io as next-generation blogging, and this was my comment:

I like blogging! I have a blog and I update it from time to time. I write long posts... maybe too long, like this comment will be.

That said, "blog" suggests "writing, publishing", and "social network" suggests "conversation", interaction, and sharing not only words and photos. So I think pump.io should stick in "social network", because you can use it as a blog, but you can also share bicycle routes, weather forecast in your location, your git commits, your farm's activity... And that enriches conversation.

If I have to explain pump.io to other people, I would say "it's the social network that you can tinker in many ways". You're not only "a publisher" or "a consumer". Of course you can be that, if you want. But you have many "verbs" to connect your life with others, not only "post", "favorite", "follow", "unfollow". And you can create your own verbs, or hire somebody to do it, or just ask for it and maybe it is somebody's itch.

There are also the advantages of being free software and not totally controlled by one part. Pump.io is "the social network where you can tinker the inside too". Do you want to own your data? you can. Do you want to setup a private instance for your organization? you can. Do you want to move to another server without loosing contact with your people? you can. Do you want to change the behavior? You can. Et cetera.

I got in love with pump.io when I saw @jpope tinkering with the minor activity feed (oh! I should have taken a screenshot of my "meanwhile" column, now I don't remember very well the kind of messages that I obtained).

I also got in love when I saw that the transition day, 4 different clients were available, and some of them in different languages.

I also got in love with the project of a raspi-like pump.io appliance for a home network. My son is 4 years old, I hope he will communicate with family and friends in a environment that we can all trust (and not lie about his age).

I see pump.io as "the second baby" - I'm the middle of three sisters, maybe I'm biased :) Now many people know what is a social network, they have experienced a bit with them, the good things, the bad things. Maybe it's time to a new start where we are on control, where we make social networks do what WE want.