App.net is becoming interesting in so many more ways than “a Twitter clone,” and this week it introduced what is probably its most intriguing and far-reaching feature yet: Broadcasts. I’m going to experiment with a Finer Things in Tech Broadcast for featured articles (yep, you heard me) and tips, and you can subscribe to it here. If you want some background on broadcasts and my vision, read on.
In short, App.net Broadcasts are Push Notifications anyone can setup for anything, and all your audience needs to receive them is the free App.net app for iOS or Android. You can create as many Broadcast channels as you like, then manually create new messages in the app or on the web, or hook up an RSS feed to go fully automatic. Broadcasts can be brief messages in and of themselves, or they can have a read more link that takes your audience to any link you want. Yeah, there’s a ton of potential here.
I’m going to experiment with a Broadcast for the Finer Things in Tech “featured” category. You can subscribe to that broadcast to receive just the posts I mark as featured—the best tips from all platforms I cover here and, soon, long-form articles written by some of the best writers in tech. Yep, this is the first time I’ve announced that these are coming. Also yes, I’ll talk more about this soon.
If you’re curious about Broadcasts and want to see more, pick up the App.net iOS app or Android app and check out the Broadcasts directory, there’s already a bunch of great stuff in there.
As always, let me know what you think. If I’m sending too many broadcasts, if you want to see separate Broadcast channels for each of the main Finer Things in Tech sections, or you have any other ideas, hit the comments here or contact me directly.