Posts Tagged
App.net
When I first heard of App.net, the idea didn’t appeal to me. I’m not the kind of person who pays for a social network because I’m not that serious about chatting with people online. Sometimes Twitter is very useful, though. I use it to chat with a few people each day and even though I’ve taken breaks from it time to time, I always end up going back because I like the simplicity. That’s what App.net promised, along with a third-party API, so why wouldn’t I like it?
Since I didn’t want to pay for the service, I simply dismissed the thought of trying it out. Then a way to get free access was officially added. You have to be asked to the network by a current member, and there are limitations to storage and following counts. All in all, it sounded like a fair way for me to get a taste of this fresh site.
I was invited to this free tier by Andrew Kunesh, one of our other writers here at AppStorm. I’ve been using the service since the day its “freemium” version was announced, but I actually don’t use it every day. I’m going to explain what I like about App.net, followed by what’s holding me back from visiting the site every day. (more…)
Twitter continues to be the rising star in social networking, as businesses have latched onto it for its marketing power as an open network. Open, that is, as in public, not as in easy to develop for. 3rd party developers have continued to have trouble with Twitter, which has added user limits and other restrictions to their apps, making it rather obvious that Twitter wants its own apps to be the only full Twitter apps out there. There’s still plenty of apps that work with Twitter, but they’re mostly only for quick sharing to Twitter, and the development of full 3rd party Twitter apps has dropped dramatically.
What has increased are the 3rd party alternatives to Twitter, and the development of apps for them. Most notable has been App.net, the paid social network that’s strikingly similar to Twitter, only with a 256 character limit on posts and no ads. I joined during its initial funding stage last year, wrote about it here, and have continued to use it since daily at @maguay. It works great, though is still very similar to Twitter and continues to be interesting because of the people that are using it more than anything. It’s a friendly, helpful, techie community, though that’s because of the people on it, not the underlying tech.
I was wondering if any of the rest of you are using App.net. Have you tried it, and if so, what are your thoughts on the network?
Twitter is a social network a lot of us use on a daily basis. I could easily Facebook, because Twitter is the network for me. However, its recent activity has not gone unnoticed and the San Francisco-based company has recieved a lot of controversial attention over its practice with developers.
In this article, we’re going to explore some of the recent attention Twitter has been getting and looking at what it means for us, the users and consumers of third-party apps. (more…)
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably aware of Twitter’s new restrictions on third-party developers. If so, you’re probably also aware of other actions Twitter has been taking which put the users on the losing end, such as shutting down the “find my friends” API for Instagram and Tumblr. Consequently, technologically-inclined users have been increasingly vocal about their disapproval of the microblogging company.
As a general result of this, App.net (ADN) was formed. Led by Dalton Caldwell, ADN offers something Twitter isn’t: to let the user be the customer, not the product. This is based on a simple principle: users and developers pay ADN to use the service, and ADN does its best to serve their interests, not those of advertisers. I believed in the cause and contributed $50 to the Kickstarter-esque project early on.
App.net’s funding was successful. It’s taken weeks of using it before I’ve really started to follow my Timeline, all thanks to Netbot’s defibrillate shock that revitalized ADN. However, I’m started to have second thoughts as to whether the service is a good idea after all.
And just in time, another option came along: Tent.io.
After making rather drastic changes to its API and app policies, Twitter became a lot more about Twitter.com and a lot less about the many apps that helped it get popular in the first place. It’s still a perfectly great network, and Twitter.com still provides a quite nice interface if it’s the only way to use the service. But the changes have been enough to set off a tidal wave of new social networking ideas.
In the weeks since then, we’ve seen the new App.net paid social network take off, with dozens of high-quality apps and tools released already for the new network. We’ve also seen the new Tent.io social networking platform launched, which aims to make it as easy to run your own Twitter-style network as running a WordPress blog. Then, there’s plenty of older competitors, from Status.net to Identi.ca that are getting more interest now that everyone’s scared the Twitter we love and know is going to disappear.
That’s why we’re wondering: have you started using another Twitter-like service? Do you plan to switch completely, or are you using it alongside Twitter? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
This week, while Twitter again tightened their restrictions on 3rd party apps, App.net passed its funding level, and developers quickly started releasing new web and native apps built on the new platform. App.net was designed to be an open social network that encourages innovation and 3rd party apps. In fact, its own Alpha app is only built as a design reference, to show what could be done with the network.
That doesn’t mean that the Alpha app isn’t interesting, though. In fact, it’s already received a number of new features and tweaks in its first week of existence. Let’s take a look at where App.net stands this week, and what the best apps have to offer. (more…)
There’s too many social networks to keep up with today, but two largely dominate the space: Facebook and Twitter. For years, Myspace was the social force to be reckoned with, but once Facebook began rising in popularity, it quickly became relegated to being a niche network. Facebook and Twitter have managed to be a social duopoly of sorts, coexisting and growing at the same time, largely because they target different types of social behavior.
As Twitter matured, and needed to find a business model, they’ve seemed to lose the open path that brought them their initial success. Developers fear that 3rd party Twitter apps, once the bread-and-butter of Twitter, will be cut off in favor of the official apps.
That fear has led to Dalton Caldwell’s fight to build App.net, a new paid social network designed to recreate the magic of the open Twitter experience, and take it further than anyone could dream of today. (more…)
