App.net Roster goes live

App.net is an exciting new alternative to Twitter. It’s perfect for those of us who would rather not be subjected to an endless stream of advertising. It feels like Twitter did years ago, except better because the nominal monthly fee keeps out the riffraff.

The creators of App.net also place a special emphasis on fostering a thriving developer community. I think this is absolutely the right approach to take if their goal is to build a reliable and useful communication platform that doesn’t become annoyingly over-commercialized and frustratingly limited the way Twitter has.

My own contribution to the ecosystem recently went live: App.net Roster lets you embed a slick, App.net-backed roster to your web page by simply copying and pasting a few lines of HTML. It’s a great way to let your web site visitors see what you and your friends are talking about on App.net.

App.net Roster was forked from Twit Roster and is a 100% database-free Sinatra app hosted on Heroku. Check it out and let me know what you think.