Paid Twitter-style service App.net has achieved its self-imposed $500,000 funding goal with almost two days still left on the clock. The social platform is the brainchild of Dalton Caldwell, who said he wanted to spawn a service dedicated to users instead of advertisers. It was originally pitched to Facebook, but the two companies came to loggerheads when it clashed with the social network's own App Center -- inspiring Caldwell's Kickstarter-style campaign. Though the software is still in alpha, over 10,000 backers have paid $50 for an annual membership or put down $1,000 for support, developer tools and a meeting with the founder. The company will now start working on its terms of service, letting users offer feedback and discover new features -- and if you wanna be @John instead of @JohnFDoe99427 on the new service, you may want to pony up, quick.

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Paid Twitter wannabe App.net hits $500K target with time to spare originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.