• New York Times, Monday, May 24, 2010 2:28 PM

Meet Pip.io -- the latest startup to be positioned by The New York Times as a potential alternative to disgruntled Facebook users. (Earlier this month, the paper profiled Diaspora*, which let users set up their own personal servers, create their own hubs, and more securely control the personal information they share.) Portraying itself as a social operating system, "Pip.io is similar to Facebook and Twitter in that it allows its members to post status updates, send messages and connect with friends," writes The Times. "But unlike its counterparts, the service allows its users to keep more of the information private."

Having recently completed a test phase, Pip.io now has 20,000 registered members -- compared to Facebook's more than 400 million. Still, Gartner research analyst Ray Valdes suggests that Facebook has made itself vulnerable to attacks from opponents that can successfully position themselves as more protective of user privacy. "Facebook is pushing to the edge of users' comfort zone," he tells The Times. "It has certainly planted a seed in some users' minds to look for an exit door."

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