[bsaunder]

For the open facebook alternative, I believe I was thinking about Diaspora (apparently it's still alive and kicking).

https://diasporafoundation.org/

Maybe its worth investigating.

As for the "failed because it was open" comment. Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that it failed because it was open. Merely that it was open and failed (apparently maybe not so much failed).

I had thought it failed for the obvious reason: not attaining the necessary critical mass that a social network needs. One of its primary propositions was an open data policy. Apparently this might not have been sufficient to launch it into success. Again, there's still something there so maybe its still rumbling on.