[trueneverland]

1. I don't believe they're aiming to be the next major social network. I don't think they're out for 500 million users or a billion users. I believe they want a smaller community with a purpose.

2. Your dislike of the name App and App.net is opinion (as with most things in life). It has no bearing on the success. I also disagree for it to come off as technical. It is what you make of it and not everyone perceives everything the same. At the end of the day, a name (and brand) is what you make of it. There have been wildly ridiculous names and whacky URLs that have succeeded as well as names of all types and ranges. This is a mediocre argument to their success at best.

3. While Facebook is THE social network as in they are the king, the others may not be complete failures either. You don't always need to be #1 to be a success. Niche products have their places too.

Having said all of the above, I'm actually not in support of App.net specifically, saying this just to state that I have no bias opinions to whether they shall succeed or not. If anything, I wish them well for the sake of wishing goodness among others. My only points above are just purely in disagreement to the opinions you have stated for discussion sake.