A social network that charges its users $50 a year would have been almost unimaginable just a few weeks ago, but is now a reality. A challenger to Twitter called App.net exceeded its crowdsourced funding target of $500,000 over the weekend, and will bid to make a profitable social network free of ads.

I previously wrote about App.net and its creators goals (see “A Social Network Free of Ads”). Now the project has received the money needed to go ahead, the real work begins, and the public scrutiny is already ramping up. As you might expect, many are expressing skepticism about the venture, for example tweeting that few Web users will want to pay when so many alternatives are free. Even users of App.net itself asking that it become significantly cheaper, or even offer a free tier (others vehemently oppose that idea).

With more than 11,000 people that have invested at least $50 in the project, App.net will probably have few problems in the short term. The “alpha” version of the network is already buzzing with conversation, albeit mostly about the project itself–its existing bugs and possible future features. Some third-party clients are already available, including Web services and iPhone apps at an early stage of development.

But, as of yesterday, only 3,500 people had actually begun using the service, mostly from the tech industry. Things will get busier when the rest of the 11,000 become active, and some people with high profiles on Twitter and other social media have already signed up. British actor Stephen Fry, who boasts 4.7 million Twitter followers, is one of them: (more…)