Once upon a time, I raged about Facebook and their hilariously bad decisions in regards to users and their privacy. I then mentioned Diaspora, a decentralized social network that works by having a bunch of “pods” connect to each other, and each pod having user profiles. Each pod stores the user info, instead of on a central site.

But ;w; there were so very few people on it.

And then there’s Google Plus. They seem to be taking user privacy more seriously, but it’s still run by Google (whose business model relies on data-mining).

And then? There’s App.net. Instead of making money by using their users as products, they make money by having subscription fees (and developer subscription fees, for people who want to make apps for it).* 😮 There are no ads. They mention all over their homepage that they take your privacy seriously. The fees aren’t too bad either ($10/mo or $36/yr). Huzzah!

*Subscription fees are kind of annoying to me, as opposed to a one-time fee, but they make more sense on a web app/service that regularly needs to connect to the maker’s server to work.

But ;w; even with such a tiny subscription fee is still a bit much for a cheapskate like me (especially if I’m not even sure if I’ll like it). Soo…maybe I’ll sign up when I get a job.

AND THEN, sometime earlier this year, they came out with a free tier. :O In which you do not have to pay, but get limited features (less storage space that Pro users, can follow only 40 people, etc). As seen as how I barely follow anyone on social networks (when I was still on Facebook, I had about 20 people on my friends list, and that was at the peak :o), it was perfect for me.

So yeah. Right now (and not sure if/when they will open it for everyone), you need an invite from somewhere (I just got mine from Lifehacker–and since I’m only a free user, I don’t have any invites o.o).

(Not linking to my profile here, since I signed up under my real name, in hopes relatives will see the shiny and migrate to it from Book of Faces. Someday TT__TT)