One of the bigger hurdles of setting up a Laconica instance is getting a server, configuring it, etc. Today, a new service launching in May called status.net was announced which will allow you to create a microblogging community without the pain of installing, configuring, and hosting it.
The long and short of the service is that you’ll create a nickname for your service (ala Tumblr, WordPress, etc) and then your site is hosted there. For instance, we might create a microblink.status.net installation where fans of this site can chat about the latest news and other cool stuff. From there, you can keep that name or map it to another domain (mylaconicainstall.com) if you wish to brand it further. There will be light theming, configuration, and advertisement options available to site admins.
Perhaps the most important bit of info that people want to know is the price. Unlike Laconica which is free (as in beer), sites hosted on status.net will not have a free-level service. There may be a trial period for new sites, but this isn’t intended to be something like Tumblr where just anyone can sign up. It’s really for serious users only. Having said that, there will be two pricing tiers depending how many users you have (< 100 or < 10,000).
This is a great opportunity for monetizing the platform, perhaps something Twitter could have done long ago. Then again, Laconica was built with the intent of deployment and Twitter wasn’t. When this comes out, we’ll be sure to put it through its paces to see if it’s a viable candidate to unseat the enterprise microblogging king Yammer.
[via Control Yourself]
Was waiting for someone to do this!
Reply · PermalinkI didn't realize this was being run by Control Yourself (owner/creator of Identi.ca and Laconi.ca). Definitely an interesting take on monetization and I think it will work.
Prodromou has open-sourced the software for those who are tech saavy enough to manage, but then also offers this version where people can do point-and-click installs and map domains, just like WordPress.com. Brilliant strategy!
Reply · PermalinkLaconica has no API, right?
The "really serious" line is unbelievable, anyone with $20 could afford to install this script.
Reply · PermalinkActually, it does have an API (it's even Twitter compatible). I've done quite a bit of work with it and it's quite good.
Not everyone has a spare box laying around they can install the service on, the know-how to install it, or the time to maintain it. This is why a hosted service is important. Think about how incredibly simple WordPress is to install and how wildly popular wordpress.com hosted blogs have become.
Reply · PermalinkMark is right... It's definitely worth the money to not have to fuss with it - especially if you want it at your own url
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