Ask HN: do you use App.net?

I always hear talk about "if you're not paying for it, you're not the customer". App.net was designed to solve that: you pay for it, so there's no ads, no privacy intrusions, and no worries about who is selling you to whom.

I guess the experiment failed, and free-to-play wins out.

I cross-post my Twitter posts to App.net with IFTTT. I'd like to use it more, but I'm not satisfied with any of the desktop clients, and most people I want to follow are still active on Twitter, meaning I need to follow both.

I still support the service and its goals, and hope it will still be around the next time Twitter does something user-hostile so there's an alternative for people to consider.

i never really understood what they were trying to do.

even going to their about page (https://app.net/about/) doesn't really explain anything. there are no screen shots, only common buzzy worded language, no depth of explanation on benefits of using the product.

No but thanks for reminding me that I need to go cancel the subscription I have with them. I think it was a neat idea that just shows how difficult it is to overcome the inertia of the established social networks.

I don't use it anymore. I jumped on it when App.net switch to its current incarnation from <whatever it was they used to do, I forget>. Paid the $50 for the developer key. Looks over the docs, posted a thing or two, then never used it. From a development standpoint I guess I never really got it. After looking at the other apps out there for inspiration, which were all Twitter clones, I guess no one else "got it", either.

Helping me "get it" lands at the feet of App.net. But a mass of corporaty buzzwords isn't going to fix that. Someone else mentioned the mistake of directing users to the Alpha app. Yup, it's just a paid version of Twitter, I guess. And App.net did nothing to dissuade me of that idea. Nothing in their pitch, nothing in the API docs (that I saw) indicated to me that there was more to do than post short pieces of text. Telling me it's a "platform" is not useful. Pointing me to an API and saying "here, we have user storage!", "over here we have a picture API", now those kinds of things would be useful and would persuade me that it's not just paid Twitter.

I never understood the point, personally. App.net was created to fix the problems with Twitter. But to me, the root problem with Twitter is that it's centralized, and App.net doesn't even try to solve that.

I've got an account but since I mostly use Twitter for bots etc., App.net loses out. Although there was some new stuff recently (metadata? PUBSUB? I forget) which made me think it was time to have another look at it.

Signed up for an account when they started offering free, didn't really understand the benefit because no one was there.

I have not been back.

Looking at all the responses posted so far, and it's pretty clear: App.net is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist (or it's a poorly executed solution to a painful problem)

Honestly, who cares about an API that lets you post, or read messages if there's nobody on the other side that will read your messages? it doesn't matter if I can make 1 billion calls a day.

I've been thinking about this recently, as like others in this thread I too have't used it in a while, but I think it's less indicative of the quality of the premise behind App.net (pay = no ads + privacy) than how little I notice Twitter ads and consequently how little they alienate me onto another platform.

App.net Broadcasts is pretty cool, using it on my Android: http://blog.app.net/2013/11/21/announcing-app-net-broadcast/

Used it and loved it when it was the mobile app landing page service, paid the $50 for the new reincarnation during the backing phase -- never used it since. Wish I got my money back, actually.

I used to, but don't anymore. It's like Google Plus, it's just spam on there (it seems like). Or it's just a bunch of tweets pushed to it, which defeats the purpose.

I use it for Broadcast -- I have Broadcast set to send me a news story if it reaches 500 points on HN, and a few other sites that I like a lot that don't update frequently.

Tried it for a few days but I haven't used it since. The appeal of twitter isn't the concept anymore it's the fact that everyone else is using it

I never heard of it till this news came out.

I used to use it, when it was a service for mobile app landing pages. The twitter-replacement I've never tried.

No. Looked at it a year ago, didn't feel like signing up.

Not really, no. It's been ages since I've logged in.

tried it once, but did not like it, since everybody is on twitter anyway

Not really anymore.

I never really got what app.net is. Is there someone subscribed? Can you explain more?