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App.net gets off to slow start, with just 250 users generating half of all posts

App.net gets off to slow start, with just 250 users generating half of all posts

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Just over a month after the launch of the ambitious Twitter challenger App.net, the service seems to be struggling to generate engagement.

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Just over a month after the launch of the ambitious Twitter challenger App.net, the service seems to be struggling to generate engagement. According to a blog post by Diego Basch, who has compiled some statistics, App.net has so far enticed around 20,000 people into paying either $50 for a standard account or $100 for developer access — but half of the roughly 300,000 posts over the past month have been made by just 250 users. Many accounts, including our own, have yet to post at all.

In line with the service's focus on providing an open, accessible API, posts have been made by a large number of third-party clients — behind the web interface itself are the web-based quickApp and iOS's AppApp, which is currently in beta, as well as the automation tool IFTTT, used to cross-post messages from Twitter. As Basch points out, users seem to be adapting well to the 256-character limit, though the chart of posts is still skewed towards shorter messages.

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