App.net feels like zagging

I have a tendency to “zag” when everyone else is zigging. It’s a combination of a need to explore and my built-in contrarianism.

For example, everyone uses Twitter. Using Twitter is zigging. It’s the easy choice. App.net (specifically alpha.app.net) is the zag. It’s newer and, to the uninitiated, nothing more than a Twitter clone that no one uses. That’s really too bad. On the other hand it’s clean, useful, and quiet. Too quiet for some, maybe.

My annual App.net subscription is set to renew soon I thought I’d dive back in and see how it feels these days. Turns out it feels pretty good. It’s a smaller “audience” but it’s an interesting group.

Also, I didn’t know they introduced a simple App.net-based commenting system, so I added it here on my static, Tinderbox-based blog. It’s a one-liner so why not? Here’s the original blog post: What is the app.net comments widget? I like it.

I find that the App.net comments widget is much cleaner and simpler than the mess that is Disqus.