As another angle, the name 'GNU Social' has all the catchiness and sparkle of a corporate quarterly accounts report. I can't see non-techies getting excited by it.
As a fan of decentralized, distributed, and federated messaging protocols (such as but not limited to gnu social), I do agree that the name is not ideal for non-techies...But i guess it could be worse...bad examples off the top of my head:
* Gnu Comrade-gram
* Gnu IMeer (like rocketeer, but also not coincidentally sounds like "I am here")
* Gnu FreeMess (as in "free messaging"...no not free in beer, but free as in liberty, because it allows for...doh, nevermind!)
* Gnu LibPost
* Gnu SocMe (short for social media)
I'm sure there could be even worse names with more time. :-)
