Paid social network App.net updates pricing structure, adds monthly plan
Premium social networking site App.net--fresh from beating its initial goal of 10,000 paying members by more than 10,000--Monday announced changes to its pricing structure. The site hopes this move will grow App.net even more. App.net will now offer a monthly plan, and its $50 yearly membership is now cut by nearly a third.
With Monday’s changes, the yearly fee is reduced to $36. Those that want to kick the tires on the service might be interested in App.net’s new monthly plan, which sets you back $5 per month.
Now, paying for a social network seems to be a pretty radical idea in the Facebook era.
Dalton Caldwell, App.net founder
However, App.net founder Dalton Caldwell believes that most social networking users are tired of the advertisingthat has taken over these types of site sites. In turn, he thinks that people will pay for a service free of ads. App.net was created based on this idea, has no advertising, and is fully member supported.
Twitter-esque
Users of Twitter might find the way App.net works familiar, as the social network's structure mimics the way the micro-blogging site works--using hashtags, @ replies, and the like. Twitter users may be who App.net wants to target: initial backers of App.net were invited to join the service and claim their Twitter username.
App.net appears to be a welcome change from the likes of Facebook and Twitter, both of which seem to have an insatiable desire to sell us just about anything and the desire to use our personal data to do it. At the same time, how many Internet users actually want to pay for something that we can get free just about everywhere else?
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http://www.techhive.com/article/2010935/paid-social-network-app-net-updates-pricing-structure-adds-monthly-plan.html
