Wouldn't it make more sense to extend Diaspora or Friendica, which seem to be already closer to your goal? What value would Elgg be bringing to this project?

Easy Diaspora use Ruby and Rails no a option plus the Licence  not allow that.

Friendlica I am not sure about the licence.

Anyway Elgg have many followers and developers I not see that in Diaspora possible for the language and because in comparative to a proprietary social network like elgg they have missing many features

@jacob Welcome to Lorea Elgg Federation and Ostatus support in Elgg