(Image Source: Nakeva Network)

BY AUSTIN FAX

ANCHOR EMILY SPAIN

The Facebook empire is too big to beat -- right? If you believe that, the newest social media start-up has a message for you -- think again.

On Tuesday, the website UnThink.com debuted its Beta site to the public. WFLA has the word from the self-proclaimed ‘Anti-Facebook.’

“We feel the fundamental change here is that the user owns their suite. They own their content. We will not use their content. We will not use any information that they've provided for our own commercial gain.”

Based out of a basement in Tampa Bay -- UnThink has received more than $2.5 million in funding from private investors. Tech Crunch’s Sarah Perez says if anyone can beat Facebook, it might be UnThink.

“[It’s] the kind of start-up that could only come from outside of traditional tech hotspots like Silicon Valley or New York, as there’s a certain level of audacity, and perhaps even ignorance, that you need in order to think you have a shot at displacing social networking giant Facebook and all of its 800 million users.”

Upon its launch, Unthink was overwhelmed by traffic, causing the site to crash for the majority of the day. A writer for ReadWriteWeb says this could be a tell-tale sign of things to come.

“If Unthink can get its act together technically... it might have a shot. But it's going to have an uphill climb, and it's not entirely apparent that the site has the gear to get past the foothills.”

UnThink claims its bread and butter is privacy. ITWorld’s Dan Tynan thinks that’s a noble idea -- but the website went a little too far.

“When you join you must agree to a 6200-word ‘Deed’ and ‘Emancipation Convenants’ that detail what they will and won’t do with your data. Are you signing up for a social network or joining a religious cult?”

Technical difficulties and emancipation covenants aside, a writer for TechDigest says the creators of UnThink might have captured the spark Facebook had back in the day.

“But as the Mark Zuckerberg character kept saying in the film Social Network: ‘It has to be cool.’ Is Facebook cool anymore? ... It seems Unthink may be in with a fighting chance.”