The stated goal of the App.net Developer Incentive Program is to incentivize the creation of applications that people love. The program was introduced 5 months ago, and has been dispersing a total of $20,000 per month to participating developers. It’s been amazing to see the progress the App.net developer ecosystem has made during these few months.

We are making our first set of changes to the program.

First, a brief recap of the Developer Incentive Program:

• App.net members will receive a monthly email asking them to give feedback on the apps they have used that month. App.net will use some basic algorithms to create defaults as a proxy for how useful that particular app may have been to them. Once the ratings are finished, the member will submit the results which will be added into the Developer Incentive system and used to generate a score for each app.
• The monthly dollar amount will be allocated to participating developers based on their “scores” in relation to the total score among participating developers.
• Developers must apply and be accepted into the Incentive Program if they wish to participate.
• This program is entirely optional, and developers should feel no pressure to participate if they are unable or uninterested in doing so.
• Developers are free to monetize their applications through their own mechanisms; this program should be thought of as a “bonus” for building software that App.net members use and love.
• Developers who attempt to influence the Incentive Program by directly soliciting votes from their users will be suspended from the program.

Changes to the Developer Incentive Program, effective March 1:

• The developer incentive pool will now be raised to $30,000 per month. This is a recognition of both the increased number of participating developers and the increased number of paid App.net accounts.
• Free tier accounts will be asked to fill out feedback surveys, but that feedback will not be included in the Developer Incentive Program results. Feedback from users on the free tier will be integrated into an overall developer feedback system.
• The default weighting algorithm will be modified in order to take into account usage of the App.net Messaging and File APIs (in addition to the Post API). It’s important to note that the scores submitted by a voting user will take precedence over default weightings.
• We will be providing additional data to developers from the ratings process, including aggregate information about voting results.

In addition, we will be adding these additional requirements for Developer Incentive Program eligibility:

• Every eligible app must have a privacy policy and terms of service. We have made some template terms of service available on Github (under a Creative Commons License) as a way to help developers meet this requirement.
• Every eligible app must have at least 50 authorized tokens.
• To be eligible for the Developer Incentive Program, the application must be publicly available and listed in the App.net Directory.

The enrollment form for the Developer Incentive program is available here.

We look forward to seeing additional progress in the developer ecosystem in the coming months, and will continue to modify the program as we learn more.

Reminder: attributes of a great app

Rather than having a large number of “one-size-fits all” apps, we want to encourage developers to think about new and customized experiences across a wide variety of categories.

A great app will be inventive, simple to use, focused, opinionated, and, above all, built with the needs of users in mind.

Thanks,

The App.net team

As of today, App.net is a freemium service

Although App.net has had only paid account tiers thus far, we initially conceived of  App.net as a freemium service. It took some time to get to this point, but we are now ready to make this vision a reality.

Some background

On July 13, 2012, the App.net project was announced. From that announcement:

…a site called Github came out. It was good. They had no advertising, but charged money for certain features. They quickly became profitable because the service was so good and so important, people were willing to pay. Github has become a much-loved brand and service, and many would agree that it is a key piece of infrastructure in the technical renaissance we are currently experiencing. Github is apparently profitable, and it sounds like the people that work there spend their time trying to make the best service possible, as opposed to spending their time trying to extract additional pennies out of their users.

Contemplate for a moment how scary a theoretical purely ad-supported Dropbox would be. I can easily imagine the overly-cheerful corporate blogpost explaining why placing ads in my personal documents, or selling the file-listing of my music collection to the music industry, or shutting down IFTTT API access is “important to the health and welfare of the community.”

It’s worth quoting the initial App.net announcement to remember that Github and Dropbox were explicitly cited as models for the (then hypothetical) App.net platform. Both of those services are “freemium”, i.e. they have both free and paid tiers of service. The fact that the App.net announcement argued that these freemium services are better aligned with the interests of users than ad-supported ones are was not an accident.

Why now is the time to introduce a free tier

App.net was created to support and empower a vibrant ecosystem of applications built by 3rd-party developers. However, in the very beginning there was a significant chicken and egg problem: there were no 3rd-party apps. The good news is that at this point, the chicken-and-egg problem has been eliminated: there are now over 100 3rd-party App.net apps in existence, available on a wide range of platforms.

We wanted to take sufficient time to build a robust and powerful API. One of our explicit goals is to help empower different types of applications, not just microblogging. We have now completed the Message and File APIs, both of which enable a multitude of possible applications.

We wanted to build a pleasant out-of-the-box experience for new users. We have since introduced a 3rd-party app directory, dramatically improved our signup experience, and have constantly tweaked aspects of the service based on feedback.

Remember, a very short time ago App.net existed as an idea proposed in a blogpost… not a functioning service. As stated at the time, the goal of the backing period was to determine whether a paid market existed for our platform. Since there are numerous examples of freemium business models which didn’t succeed, we wanted to be very careful in our approach to pricing. We have been spending the past few months learning and analyzing data in order to come up with a plan for a sustainable and beneficial free tier.

Free tier details

To get access to the App.net free tier, you must have an invite. These invites are being distributed to current App.net members on paid plans.

Free tier accounts are similar to paid tier accounts, but with a few limitations. These limitations are as follows:

• Free tier accounts can follow a maximum of 40 users
• Free tier accounts have 500 MB of available file storage
• Free tier accounts can upload a file with a maximum size of 10 MB

More about the invitation system

As an added bonus, members can earn additional file storage by inviting friends. Both the inviting member and the invited member will receive 100 MB of additional storage if both of these things happen:

• The invited member follows at least 5 other accounts
• The invited member authorizes a third-party app

Accounts that were previously invited to a 30-day free trial are now automatically enrolled in the free tier, no action is necessary. Additionally, any existing invites that have been sent and unclaimed will also function as invites to the free tier without needing any additional action.

The road ahead

We’d like to thank all of the existing members of the community for being part of manifesting something amazing out of thin air in just 6 months. The rate of innovation and participation in the nascent App.net ecosystem has been astounding. We look forward to seeing this pattern continue!

In the coming days we will be closely monitoring how the invitation system is working, and will adjust the availability of invites accordingly.

Don’t forget: invitations aren’t the only way to create an App.net account. Anyone can go here to get instant access by signing up with a paid plan.

Thank you,

Dalton & the App.net team

Last month, we added support for Stream Markers to the App.net API. The stream marker feature makes it easy to maintain your reading context across different App.net clients.

As of today, alpha.app.net supports stream markers. Please note: this feature is off in the alpha web client by default. Please go here to turn it on.

How it works

Alpha will show your current stream location using a small red ribbon, pictured here:

When you scroll up or down in your feed, alpha will automatically update the state of your stream marker.

To be transparent, implementing this feature in a web application was somewhat more complex than we expected. Given that, feedback and suggestions on our implementation are welcome.

Thanks,

The App.net team

When we announced the join.app.net project, our yearly pricing was an attempt to validate that a critical mass of people would financially support the existence of a service like App.net. Our stated goal for hitting a “critical mass” was 10,000 paying members. Fortunately, the market has told us “yes”, and then some.

In the 12 weeks since join.app.net was announced, several important milestones have been reached:

• The App.net API has reached a level of completeness to enable this amazing amount of software development. As the apps mentioned below demonstrate, our API is now capable of supporting a robust user experience.
• There is a substantial breadth and depth of available App.net-compatible apps including:
  • 10 App.net apps in the iOS app store, with several more expected to be entering the store soon.
  • 3 App.net apps in Google Play for Android users
  • 1 App.net app in the Windows Phone market.
  • 4 App.net Mac desktop apps.
  • A number of browser plugins for Chrome and Firefox.
  • Several App.net-enabled web applications, search tools and more.
• The membership of App.net is just about to cross the 20,000 user level, which creates some economies of scale for us. Remember, the original pricing model assumed 10,000 users.

Because of this momentum and scale, we’ve decided to introduce a couple of updates to our pricing model.

First, we are introducing a $5/month Member plan. Some folks have been asking for a monthly plan since day one, and given all of the progress that has been made in the App.net ecosystem, we think now is a good time to introduce it.

Second, we are dropping the Member price from $50/year to $36/year. All existing members will get the benefits of the yearly price drop. Existing members will get additional months added to their plan so that they see the same pricing benefits that new yearly members get. If you are an existing member, you should have received an email from us explaining the extra time that has been added to your subscription.

This news, combined with our new Developer Incentive Program is all part of our commitment to enabling a successful, sustainable ecosystem. We fundamentally believe that 3rd-party developers will innovate faster, create better applications on more platforms, and make more users happy than any single company could. As the platform matures, and the community and app selection grows, we believe that the value and appeal of App.net can only increase. Remember: we are just getting started.

Thanks,
Dalton Caldwell
App.net founder/CEO

Two important properties of a successful software platform are:

1. A financially sustainable business model that can support both the platform and 3rd-party developers.
2. Aligned financial incentives between the platform, users and developers.

History shows us that when these two properties are absent from a developer ecosystem, Bad Things can happen. It is because of these fundamental beliefs about what makes a social platform successful and sustainable that App.net was created.

We envision a developer ecosystem that supports a wide variety of applications, applications which look very different than alpha.app.net. For example, we expect to see App.net-enabled games (a simple chess app has already been created), group messaging, collaboration, and frankly things that we haven’t thought of.

As part of turning our words and ideas into concrete action, I am pleased to announce the App.net Developer Incentive Program. The goal of this program is to financially reward the development of great App.net applications.

We have spent a lot of time thinking about how to create a system that actually incents the creation of innovative, imaginative, and useful apps. This is easier said than done. For example, we can’t simply count the number of posts generated by an application because that wouldn’t accurately reflect how much value an App.net member feels they receive from the app. With this in mind, we are implementing a system that is driven by direct feedback from members.

How members will interact with the system

Once a month App.net members will receive an email asking them to give feedback on the App.net apps they have used that month. App.net will use some basic algorithms to put in “presets” as a proxy for how useful that particular app may have been to you. The member will then be free to move the sliders in any configuration that they wish. Once the ratings are finished, the member will submit the results which will be added into the Developer Incentive system and used to generate a “score” for each app.

Developer Incentive Program Details

• We will be disbursing at least $20,000 per month among eligible App.net developers. This program will commence on October 1.
• The monthly dollar amount will be allocated to participating developers based on their “scores” in relation to the total score among participating developers.
• Developers must apply and be accepted into the Incentive Program if they wish to participate. App.net will need to collect some additional information including tax and payment information before the developer will become eligible.
• This program is entirely optional, and developers should feel no pressure to participate if they are unable or uninterested in doing so.
• Developers are free to monetize their applications through their own mechanisms; this program should be thought of as a “bonus” for building software that App.net members use and love.
• It is important that users do not feel pressured, bullied, or guilted into providing feedback. Therefore, developers who attempt to influence the Incentive Program by directly soliciting votes from their users will be suspended from the program.

This is our first iteration of this program, and we expect to learn a lot during the process. We can commit to running this experiment and updating it as we learn over time. There is a very good chance we will make mistakes in our first implementations of this program, but we will do our best to keep it aligned with the interests of both developers and members. If we find that this program is successful in incentivizing great apps that App.net members love, we intend to continue to increase the monthly dollar amount as our userbase grows.

Attributes of a great App.net app

Rather than having a large number of “one-size-fits all” apps, we want to encourage developers to think about new and customized experiences across a wide variety of categories.

A great app will be inventive, simple to use, focused, opinionated, and, above all, built with the needs of users in mind. We’ve already seen a number of apps developed for the platform that are very impressive, and we look forward to seeing many more.

Thanks,

Dalton Caldwell
App.net Founder/CEO