Live data from Hacker News

The Great App.net Mistake

wired.com

31–40 of 70 posts

Re: The Great App.net Mistake

#31
I wonder if a part of these site or services is how the name works in the language. I can "tweet" something I can "google" something, but "app" something?

Not saying its crucial or 100% important, but I do think the name and it's ability to work well in English has a lot to d owith success.

Maybe?

Re: The Great App.net Mistake

#32

Mat Honan deserves credit for one of the clearest, most concise descriptions of what App.net is (or intends to be): > Imagine this. You sign up for Vine, and build up a robust friend network and library of videos. But then you try out Instagram’s new video sharing, and decide you like its editing features a lot better. > Normally, this would mean starting over, with no friends and no files. But let’s say that both of…

Wouldn't those apps just be App.net clients? If you're limited only to what types of media App.net provides, how can you make an innovative app?

Because you can have your own backend that does anything you want, and just uses App.net for the social graph.

Re: The Great App.net Mistake

#33

Mat Honan deserves credit for one of the clearest, most concise descriptions of what App.net is (or intends to be): > Imagine this. You sign up for Vine, and build up a robust friend network and library of videos. But then you try out Instagram’s new video sharing, and decide you like its editing features a lot better. > Normally, this would mean starting over, with no friends and no files. But let’s say that both of…

If App.net it's trying to be a "social backend"... if that IS the case, then their work it's harder than just being a "Twitter alternative". But I'm really hoping they manage to make it!

Re: The Great App.net Mistake

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't those apps just be App.net clients? If you're limited only to what types of media App.net provides, how can you make an innovative app?

Because you can have your own backend that does anything you want, and just uses App.net for the social graph.

At that point wouldn't you be better off using a bigger social graph?

Re: The Great App.net Mistake

#35
post #31

I wonder if a part of these site or services is how the name works in the language. I can "tweet" something I can "google" something, but "app" something? Not saying its crucial or 100% important, but I do think the name and it's ability to work well in English has a lot to d owith success. Maybe?

The name is not a problem. You can “tweet” and “google” something because tweeting and googling use products. App.net is not a product, it is a platform. Similarly, you can’t “facebook” something, you can only “post on Facebook”, but that’s okay because Facebook is a platform.

Re: The Great App.net Mistake

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you can have your own backend that does anything you want, and just uses App.net for the social graph.

At that point wouldn't you be better off using a bigger social graph?

Yes - if you could get access to "a bigger social graph" without risking the owners of those bigger graphs shutting down or limiting your api keys, competing with you directly after you've proved/developed a market, or any of the other "dirty tricks" Twitter/FaceBook et al. have pulled on developers.

(Note: app.net might pull those dirty tricks in the future, but at least they've got a business model that doesn't _require_ them too)

Re: The Great App.net Mistake

#37
If people don't want their social network to be at the whims of a company, why not go all the way and adopt the Tent protocol? http://tent.io

I mean, I can see why from a developer's point of view. Those $30k a month are enticing. But why would users care?

Re: The Great App.net Mistake

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't those apps just be App.net clients? If you're limited only to what types of media App.net provides, how can you make an innovative app?

Because you can have your own backend that does anything you want, and just uses App.net for the social graph.

You can have your own backend that does anything you want, and is completely opaque and invisible to that oh so valued social graph, because /their/ clients don't support your magic thing.

Re: The Great App.net Mistake

#39
While I appreciate Dalton's insight into incentivizing good behavior by treating a social network as infrastructure rather than an advertising/media business, I can't help but feel he's simply asking people to trust App.net because this time it's really different. What would prevent App.net from pulling a Twitter? Or from PRISM'ing our data? App.net seems like an incrementalist approach to a problem that requires more of a revolution. I wish there was something else with even half the traction of App.net if only it provided a distributed social network with no central point of failure and a solid API to build from.

Re: The Great App.net Mistake

#40

Mat Honan deserves credit for one of the clearest, most concise descriptions of what App.net is (or intends to be): > Imagine this. You sign up for Vine, and build up a robust friend network and library of videos. But then you try out Instagram’s new video sharing, and decide you like its editing features a lot better. > Normally, this would mean starting over, with no friends and no files. But let’s say that both of…

I had it all wrong. App.net is the new Ning. Or, I still have it all wrong.
Post reply on HN