While the are many social networks in the wild, most rely on data stored on a central site owned by a third party.
I'd like to build a solution, where data remains local on member's systems. Think of the project as an address book, which automagically updates contact's data as soon a a contact changes its coordinates. This base idea might get extended later on...
Updates will be transferred using public/private key cryptography using a central host. The sole role of the host is to be a store and forward intermediate. Private keys remain private on each member's system.
If two client are both online and a p2p connection could be established, the clients could transfer data telegrams without the central host.
Thus, sender and receiver will be the only parties which are able create authentic messages.
Questions:
- Do exist certain protocols which I should adopt?
- Are there any security concerns I should keep in mind?
- Do exist certain services which should be integrated or used somehow?
More technically:
- Use e.g. Amazon or Google provided services?
- Or better use a raw web-server? If yes: Why?
- Which algorithm and key length should be used?
UPDATE-1
I googled my own question title and found this academic project developed 2008/09: http://www.lifesocial.org/.