[downandout]

In the Facebook era, I think people have a hard time seeing the value of paying for ad-free models like App.net where free alternatives are available. Even Wikipedia has a hard time raising enough money through through their "just beg for it" revenue model, and they generate a significant amount of user ire in the process. 99% of their users would much rather see ads than put up with their invasive virtual panhandling.

While the motivation behind such models may be noble in the eyes of their developers, the whole "ads are evil" notion simply doesn't make sense to most of the general population. Accordingly, most of these models are doomed for failure. If my goal is maximum distribution, I will always choose to develop for a free platform.

[dasil003]

There is a free tier which I have to assume will only grow over time as the business scales.

http://blog.app.net/2013/02/25/introducing-a-free-tier/