There is no doubt that social networking has changed the face of the Internet, and if you believe that it was responsible for the unrest sweeping the Middle East, perhaps even for changing the world. Not everyone is happy with the social side of the app. Loof is a new web site for people who want to do things differently.

Loof's biggest innovation is its Wall. This works much like the better known Facebook Wall but with a twist. Anything that gets posted to your Loof Wall is at some point randomly deleted never to be seen again. A triple erase with random bit scrubbing ensures that the files can never be recovered. This is a sure way to kill communications between people and free up time better spent on real projects of worth. Why bother taking those pointless pictures and posting them on your wall when you know they will be erased with extreme prejudice.

When you join, Loof recommends some people that you might like to ignore or "Be-A-Loof" to, as the jargon has it. The list is constructed by some complex algorithms based on artificial intelligence which carefully matches your interests, age and other profile features. The theory is that the better matched your Be-A-Loof list is, the more bandwidth has been potentially saved. Think of all of the stupid pointless time wasting messages you could have exchanged if you had used a social web site!

Some trendy features have also found their way onto the site but they have been implemented in an appropriate way that fits in with the overall Loof philosophy.

Instead of a Like button the site promotes a "Boring" button which can be used to warn off any potential friends from getting anywhere near. It has been suggested that some might misuse this button as a way of protecting really neat finds from others. After all, why slow down your favourite website by encouraging others to browse it. 

Another option already proving popular is "No way are we linked". This lets you send an automatic 'go away' message to anyone who contacts you because you might have done business with them in the past.

There is a also a full tweet like facility called "Sayings". This is much more powerful than Twitter in that you can put your thoughts into as many characters as they need. Of course, in keeping with the philosophy of the site, your sayings aren't broadcast to anyone. Instead they are stored up to be used against you should the need arise.

Location, another trendy feature, is fully supported. A random GPS position generator ensures that you will never be found by anyone - even if they did express an interest in finding you. The one thing that Loof guarantees is that your published location will never match your actual location - of course how they do this is a mystery.

Visit the Loof site today and vanish from the face of of the social network.