Backup Facebook With MyCube Vault

In the implementation of his grand vision of unshackling users from “slum landlords” like Facebook, Singapore-headquartered company, MyCube has unveiled the first phase with open-source project, MyCube Vault, a backup service that allows users to aggregate their social media content from across the web and store it securely on their hard drive.

The second and final phase, MyCube Exchange, aims to be “a content-rich social network where you have complete control of your privacy and interactions.” This will launch in two months.

The company is led by Swedish serial entrepreneur Johan Staël von Holstein of Icon Medialab (in Swedish) fame.

Fighting against slum landlords

An excerpt from TheLocal.se (Sweden’s news in English) (excellent interview, please go read the piece):

Johan says, “The thing about Facebook is that I love it and hate it,” he explains. “I love what I can do, but cannot for the life of me understand why they decide everything for me and limit my freedom and ability to control to such an extent.”

He adds, “I like to use the analogy of owning rather than renting property. Facebook can often feel like you’re renting the space from a slum landlord. They dictate all the terms. If they want to put in a new window, they do. If they want to change the locks, they do. And if they want to kick you out of the whole property altogether, taking ownership of everything inside, they do.”

He continues, “A lot of people don’t realize, but the content they put on existing social networks no longer belongs to them – all those pictures, contact details and discussions belong to the social network. If they ban you from their service, all those pictures, contacts, email exchanges are lost forever.”

MyCube Vault

At the SIME-Stockholm 2010 conference a few days ago, MyCube announced the release of the MyCube Vault,

“MyCube’s vision is to give users complete control of their online lives” said Johan Staël von Holstein, MyCube CEO. “The first step of gaining control is to have all of your social media assets gathered securely in one place, and that is exactly what the Vault does.”

How to use the Vault?

View more presentations from MyCube.

MyCube Exchange

The next step in the grand plan has been two years in the making MyCube Exchange will launch January 15th 2011.

Want to watch Johan talk about MyCube? Check out this short interview by Annika Lidne of Disruptive Media and Stockholm Social Media Club:

Default: Private

A big difference between MyCube and other social networks is that for the former, the default setting for a user’s data is private. On how MyCube is different from Diaspora, another to-be-launched social network that sounds exactly like MyCube (“inherently private”), Johan claims that “they [Diaspora] look upon privacy and integrity as the goal. We are a sophisticated social exchange where privacy, and integrity is the beginning.”

Being such a consumer-centric product, user experience will be key. Am eagerly awaiting the showdown in terms of product as well as its take-up rate.

When you compare how Diaspora has already started marketing and garnering an interested user base versus the stealth MyCube (Twitter follower count for Diaspora to MyCube = 52K+ to 200), I am a little worried for MyCube.

MyCube has 30 employees based in Singapore. The company can be found on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Link to full article