App.net is Dreaming Small | Hacker News Reader

App.net is Dreaming Small

samsoff.es

8 pointssamsoffes7 comments

1. I don't believe they're aiming to be the next major social network. I don't think they're out for 500 million users or a billion users. I believe they want a smaller community with a purpose.

2. Your dislike of the name App and App.net is opinion (as with most things in life). It has no bearing on the success. I also disagree for it to come off as technical. It is what you make of it and not everyone perceives everything the same. At the end of the day, a name (and brand) is what you make of it. There have been wildly ridiculous names and whacky URLs that have succeeded as well as names of all types and ranges. This is a mediocre argument to their success at best.

3. While Facebook is THE social network as in they are the king, the others may not be complete failures either. You don't always need to be #1 to be a success. Niche products have their places too.

Having said all of the above, I'm actually not in support of App.net specifically, saying this just to state that I have no bias opinions to whether they shall succeed or not. If anything, I wish them well for the sake of wishing goodness among others. My only points above are just purely in disagreement to the opinions you have stated for discussion sake.

That highlight makes my eyes jump around the screen too much, it's bothersome.

As for the content, I don't think App.net is dreaming to hit 500m users. They're dreaming to hit a select few, intelligent users, to use their beautiful ecosystem of an API. I don't want them to dream big. If they were dreaming big, they'd cater to advertisers, which is exactly what they don't want.

I'm sorry you don't like my design.

If they honestly think 500 million people are going to pay for their service, they are greatly mistaken. I can dream 100 billion people are going to give me a dollar, but that's not going to happen for many reasons. The same is true with their "dream."

Did you even read what he wrote? They DON'T aim for any such amount of people using it.

Design is quite nice. I really do like your stuff, Sam. Colors are very pleasant, but I think the highlight is a little distracting from your content. Goes against your design principles, in my opinion.

I agree. First, I need to keep reminding myself that "app.net" is a 'new twitter' rather than a review site or app marketplace. It just won't stick in my head as much as I try.

And payment model for a new social network is a fantastic idea, but the audience is too narrow to be useful.

I agree that they're dreaming small. This short-sighted outlook along with their (in my opinion) terrible name, will end up hurting them tremendously (assuming they even raise the 500k).

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