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I've been on HN for a long time. I've seen many app.net posts fly by. I've read the start of many articles, been to their home page and even read their "Learn m

I've been on HN for a long time. I've seen many app.net posts fly by. I've read the start of many articles, been to their home page and even read their "Learn more" page. I still don't understand what it is. Is it something new, or just a Facebook clone? How is it different from Mozilla Persona or OAuth? I am apparently, as a web developer, their target market. I think maybe their disdain for marketing has caused their marketing and communication to suffer.

wmf 12y ago
You might call it a social backend. Imagine Twitter+Facebook+Dropbox but with all the UIs removed, so it's just a backend datastore with APIs. Then third parties write apps that provide different UIs on that data.
- windsurfer 12y ago
  But isn't Twitter without a UI or userbase just basically a database, only controlled by a third party? What's the point of that? I already have MySQL and Postgres, and they are free and open source.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - eridius 12y ago
    It's a massive social graph + infrastructure for subscribing to data sources (i.e. other users) and broadcasting messages from one source to all subscribers (including push). And that's just Twitter. ADN includes a lot more than Twitter does.
- olalonde 12y ago
  Wow, first time I actually understand what App.net is.
sp332 12y ago
You can store data on app.net and share it between apps. So you can have a single contact list, for example. Or share your photos in any photo album, without managing and re-uploading the same photos for different services.
- windsurfer 12y ago
  How is that different from uploading pictures to Imgur, Dropbox, or my own server? I can just share the URL to anyone on any service.
  - sp332 12y ago
    Well if we're on Twitter and I want to send you a non-public link (just between you and me) then you have to make a dropbox account. Or a Box.net account, or a Mega account, or every other kind of account you might get sent to. If we're talking on app.net, I know I can send you a file hosted there. I know twitter added inline photo support recently, but app.net had it first.
    - icebraining 12y ago
      Why would you have to make any account? Just send the link on a DM. Talk about a non-problem.
      - dewey 12y ago
        You need to upload the files to some place. He's saying with app net it's possible to upload it to the network (like Twitter) itself, and not to some third party storage like dropbox/mega/box. Just like sending images on Twitter. And regarding "just send the link via DM", that's currently not possible any more: https://dev.twitter.com/discussions/23044 https://dev.twitter.com/discussions/23044
      - sp332 12y ago
        You have to make a dropbox account to see my file, if the file isn't public. Edit: wait, maybe that's not true. It's even worse - anyone with the shared dropbox link will be able to get at my file even if they're not authenticated as someone I want to share with.

wmf 12y ago

You might call it a social backend. Imagine Twitter+Facebook+Dropbox but with all the UIs removed, so it's just a backend datastore with APIs. Then third parties write apps that provide different UIs on that data.

windsurfer 12y ago
But isn't Twitter without a UI or userbase just basically a database, only controlled by a third party? What's the point of that? I already have MySQL and Postgres, and they are free and open source.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- eridius 12y ago
  It's a massive social graph + infrastructure for subscribing to data sources (i.e. other users) and broadcasting messages from one source to all subscribers (including push). And that's just Twitter. ADN includes a lot more than Twitter does.
olalonde 12y ago
Wow, first time I actually understand what App.net is.

sp332 12y ago

You can store data on app.net and share it between apps. So you can have a single contact list, for example. Or share your photos in any photo album, without managing and re-uploading the same photos for different services.

windsurfer 12y ago
How is that different from uploading pictures to Imgur, Dropbox, or my own server? I can just share the URL to anyone on any service.
- sp332 12y ago
  Well if we're on Twitter and I want to send you a non-public link (just between you and me) then you have to make a dropbox account. Or a Box.net account, or a Mega account, or every other kind of account you might get sent to. If we're talking on app.net, I know I can send you a file hosted there. I know twitter added inline photo support recently, but app.net had it first.
  - icebraining 12y ago
    Why would you have to make any account? Just send the link on a DM. Talk about a non-problem.
    - dewey 12y ago
      You need to upload the files to some place. He's saying with app net it's possible to upload it to the network (like Twitter) itself, and not to some third party storage like dropbox/mega/box. Just like sending images on Twitter. And regarding "just send the link via DM", that's currently not possible any more: https://dev.twitter.com/discussions/23044 https://dev.twitter.com/discussions/23044
    - sp332 12y ago
      You have to make a dropbox account to see my file, if the file isn't public. Edit: wait, maybe that's not true. It's even worse - anyone with the shared dropbox link will be able to get at my file even if they're not authenticated as someone I want to share with.