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Which is why it might succeed: regular people want to use it, not just enthusiasts

Regular people don't want to deal with invite codes.

My experience begs to differ

I remember a time when people sold invites for GMail and the list of buyers wasn't short at all.

That's a service, not a social network which aims to beat the network effect.

Also gmail can talk with other email users.

The argument I was replying to was about people disliking invitation codes. If that's practical or not for a social network is beyond this comment.

Social media is a service.