App.net is Shutting Down (app.net)

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App.net is Shutting Down (app.net)

Posted by msmash on Friday January 13, 2017 @02:00AM from the didn't-work-out dept.

Social network App.net is shutting down once and for all in March. The company said on March 14 it will be deleting all user data. The announcement comes two years after the company ceased active development on the platform. From the official blog post: Ultimately, we failed to overcome the chicken-and-egg issue between application developers and user adoption of those applications. We envisioned a pool of differentiated, fast-growing third-party applications would sustain the numbers needed to make the business work. Our initial developer adoption exceeded expectations, but that initial excitement didn't ultimately translate into a big enough pool of customers for those developers. This was a foreseeable risk, but one we felt was worth taking.

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Where is the app apper guy? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-13 02:03 · Score: 0

LUDDITE!!
1. Re: Where is the app apper guy? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-13 02:53 · Score: 0
  
  He may be injured!
2. Re:Where is the app apper guy? by ilsaloving · 2017-01-13 05:02 · Score: 1
  
  I can only guess that he took one look at the title, developed priapism, and died.
LOL!! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-13 02:03 · Score: 0

And nothing of value was lost.
C'mon people, let's give them a break! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-13 02:06 · Score: 0

I can't remember the rest of the old fuckedcompany.com refrain.
1. Re:C'mon people, let's give them a break! by xxxJonBoyxxx · 2017-01-13 02:27 · Score: 1
  
  "C'mon people! Let's give these guys a break. They had a vision for something great and they tried their best to make it happen. Not every business succeeds, in fact almost many fail. They had the guts, the vision and the nerve to be great." - FC
Translation by serviscope_minor · 2017-01-13 02:09 · Score: 2, Insightful

We envisioned a pool of differentiated, fast-growing third-party applications would sustain the numbers needed to make the business work.
It means: we hoped a bunch of people would do most of the work for us for free.

--
SJW n. One who posts facts.
1. Re:Translation by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-13 02:11 · Score: 0
  
  "We'll make it up with volume."
2. Re:Translation by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2017-01-13 03:17 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  If memory serves, the original logic behind the existence of this thing was dissatisfaction with Twitter jerking around 3rd party client developers in order to ensure that their freeloading peasants were exposed to enough advertising and had suitably limited control over layout, presentation, etc.
  
  This service was going to be the one where developers came first and you were the customer, not the product. As far as I know that part of the vision was delivered; it just turns out that demand for "Like twitter, except basically empty" isn't all that robust, no matter how nice the service is.
3. Re:Translation by metamatic · 2017-01-13 05:04 · Score: 1
  
  Bingo. It was a closed proprietary system, just like Twitter, so nobody with any sense adopted it.
  
  --
  GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Where's the App guy when you need him? by RuffMasterD · 2017-01-13 02:10 · Score: 1

This is the big break you've been waiting for man! Do your thing and save the internet. Real App appers app app.net... dammit, I got nothing, help me out.

--
Human Rights, Article 12: Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence
1. Re:Where's the App guy when you need him? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-13 05:14 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  My copyrighted, trademarked, and app patented HOSTS file system would have prevented this app company's failure.
  
  -APPK
  
  P.S. App hosts cow taco boy
  P.P.S. HOSTS Rob app
  D.D.S. Flouride!
app.net, March 14 by hcs_$reboot · 2017-01-13 02:11 · Score: 1

Juicy TLD on the horizon...

--
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
1. Re:app.net, March 14 by The-Ixian · 2017-01-13 02:26 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah in 2020...
  I am sure this will be auctioned off long before it is available to the plebes.
  
  --
  My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
2. Re:app.net, March 14 by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-13 02:50 · Score: 0
  
  Got a hunger for apps? All appetizers any time delivered free to your door! Coming soon to app.net!
Image problem by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-13 02:13 · Score: 0

I never heard of app.net before, but the first thing that comes to mind is mobile apps aimed at Microsoft's .NET platform. Given the success of Windows Phone, I am not surprised at their demise, and if I am completely off base, perhaps the company should have spent a bit longer thinking about the impact their chosen name would have.
1. Re:Image problem by coofercat · 2017-01-13 02:58 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I just took a look at their 'about' page - I'm still none the wiser what they (were) up to. Advertising and outreach definitely wasn't big on their list of priorities it seems. They probably have more 'mind share' today, because they're closing down than they've ever had before.
2. Re:Image problem by rgbscan · 2017-01-13 03:31 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  The promise of ADN was a "social backbone". You build the social network once, and add it to your app. They had a Twitter clone as a demonstration product (called Alpha). But the idea was, you didn't need to reinvent the wheel every time you created an app. So you sign up for ADN once. Someone invents Vine? Well, they integrate with ADN, and voila! Once you download Vine you have all your friends already there. You don't have to reinvite them and re-friend them on the latest app of the month. When you discover Instagram, well they are plugged into ADN so again your friends are already present and you don't have to find them again under a different username or whatever. That was the idea. The problem was1) They decided to go ad-free, so both developer and user accounts cost money initially. There was eventually a free tier of user accounts. 2) Outside of developers reading the spec, follow-on apps were slow in coming so for a long time, it was just a paid and ad-free alternative to Twitter. Eventually there were apps like Whisper, and Climber for example that duplicated Instagram and Vine and created private chat rooms and instant messaging like Whatsapp. The thing was, really they wanted to be an API, and no one was interested. Why share your most valuable thing, users and their data, with someone else? How do you monetize that if it's given away to everyone else on the network and to all apps? Better to build walls around the garden and sell ads. It's too bad. It had promise.
And nothing of value was lost by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-13 02:14 · Score: 0

While it is unfortunate that people will lose jobs, it is equally unfortunate that resources were expended on a bad idea.
I had to lookup app.net on Wikipedia to find out that it was yet another social microblogging platform. Their concept was to be ad-free and subscription supported. Hello Silicon Valley Echo Chamber: The vast majority of the stuff on social media is crap and people aren't willing to pay and will tolerate a reasonable amount of ads.
Too bad shutdownify has shut down by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-13 02:15 · Score: 0

It's a pity that shutdownify.com has shut down. Otherwise they could have dispensed with their own manual solution and pushed out an API-generated, streamlined, eye-catching, click-bating, VCgasm-inducing shutdown notice instead!
Of course it died... by Desler · 2017-01-13 02:45 · Score: 3, Insightful

In May of 2014, App.net entered maintenance mode. At that time we made the difficult decision to put App.net into autopilot mode in an effort to preserve funds and to give it ample time to bake.
This sounds like the real reason the platform died. They already effectively signaled they were dying 2.5 years ago. Why would any third party waste time investing in a platform when its creators aren't investing in it?
Random Website Shutsdown by Luthair · 2017-01-13 03:18 · Score: 2, Insightful

A site no one has heard of shutdown, and makes first page news.
1. Re:Random Website Shutsdown by Oswald+McWeany · 2017-01-13 03:46 · Score: 2
  
  To be fair... I've heard of it now.
  
  --
  "That's the way to do it" - Punch
2. Re:Random Website Shutsdown by Jhon · 2017-01-13 05:02 · Score: 1
  
  Doesn't everything slashdot posts make the first page? Sometimes they bump the same article up again if it's way busy (like recent election related articles).
3. Re:Random Website Shutsdown by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-13 06:30 · Score: 0
  
  I think their point is that this is not even noteworthy to be posted here at all. Numerous no-name websites close every day and aren't posted about on Slashdot.
4. Re:Random Website Shutsdown by Desler · 2017-01-13 06:35 · Score: 1
  
  But... APPS!!
5. Re:Random Website Shutsdown by Anonymous Coward · 2017-01-13 09:46 · Score: 0
  
  If a site shuts down, and nobody knows about it, does it make a sound?
Apple Appnet by l20502 · 2017-01-13 04:15 · Score: 1

Skynet, reimagined.