Think APP.net's Just a Twitter Clone? Then, You're Missing the Point

This is wishful thinking. App.net describes itself as essentially a third-party-developer-friendly Twitter with user-friendly privacy practices.

From their FAQ:

"OK, great, but what exactly is this product you will be delivering?

As a member, you'll have a new social graph and real-time feed that you access from an App.net mobile application or website. At first, the user experience will be very similar to what Twitter was like before it turned into a media company. On a forward basis, we will focus on expanding our core experience by nurturing a powerful ecosystem based on 3rd-party developer built "apps". This is why we think the name "App.net" is appropriate for this service.

From a developer perspective, you will be able to read and write to a Twitter-like API. Developers behaving in good faith will have free reign to build alternate UIs, new business models of their own, and whatever they can dream up."

Notice how the only differences between their described product and Twitter are the two factors I mentioned above.

Developers don't build Twitter-based products because they need a stream-as-a-service to build upon. They build them because there are users there. This is why I don't understand the App.net hype.

"It would a huge benefit to society if we can get with social networking to where we are with email today."

If Twitter, Facebook and other Social networks are controlling their APIs, they may as well choose to create restrictions around App.Net accessing the APIs. So do you think App.Net will be successful in creating this open platform?

I think a lot of people are "missing the point" because of the poor job Dalton is doing of describing what exactly he is trying to do. By the score of my comment [1] on the original announcement a lot of people agree.

1. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4241821

They keep inviting comparisons to e-mail and instant messaging, and they keep insisting how app.net is not twitter. In many ways, all we know at this point is what app.net is not, and not what it is designed to do.

The additional problem in all of this is that they're selling this service to developers, not users. Users are not going to care whether they use app.net, twitter, or whatever. Most are just wanting to see what Oprah or Shaq are going to say next.

I see this project as more of an expression of collective frustration on behalf of anyone working in social media. I don't see it as a viable service.

That's exactly what it is, a Twitter clone. The inspiration is clear from looking at the UI mockups and API. https://github.com/appdotnet/api-spec/blob/master/objects.md

Maybe it will turn into something else someday, but not today.

APP.net = ghost town social network with a fee.

Can someone give an example of an application that would be built on top of App.net?