I'm excited by newer avenues for sharing content and promoting conversation via social networks such as Branch and App.net (ADN). Are they the next big thing?

Both are just getting started and need more users. If you are using Branch and/or ADN, what are the pros and cons of each service?

If you aren't using these services (or not interested in using them), why not?

I don't think I started this correctly. So, forgive that.

I'm a branch member but this is my first branch conversation. I really like the concept but haven't found a natural inclination to break off from twitter, for example and have a smaller, more dedicated interaction with a group on a topic yet. This will be a good learning exercise.

So, that's the first concept I'm trying to understand with using Branch. Is it best used when 3 or more people begin tweeting and you lose track of the thread? I can think of several times that has happened with friends. But the "public" aspect of branches adds some barriers.

ADN is for those interested in participating in the nascent stages of a developer-friendly, pay-to-play Twitter clone. Branch is trying different approaches to long standing internet conversation problems. I'm excited about the product iteration and diversity, but I can't help but think that there's so much room for improvement.

I'd have to agree with you, Nate. The majority of ADN users appear to be development/design types. I'm not finding a wide range of topics being discussed.

Branch has a lot of potential. There are some basic functionality missing, like being able to search branches by topic.

Ok, so, I'd never even heard of Branch before I got the DM from @jbrotherlove about it. I'm curious about it because conversation, as a focal idea, is a much easier and less involved starting point for a social network than are individual pages, which become little nodes of curated content that you have to monitor and adjust. Twitter was an easy social network to participate in because the initial requirements are minimal. Name + email + start talking. Facebook is name + email + bio + schools + photos + whatever the hell else.

Branch seems to be similarly discussion based, where my initial investment doesn't have to be gigantic to reap significant benefit. So I'm looking forward to exploring.

That said, one of the principal complaints I have about Twitter is that nuanced discussion is nearly impossible, and a pithy, smarmy remark is often stronger than reasoned dialog. It's obviously not a problem particular to Twitter...American political discussion (I specify American because I'm not terribly experienced with other countries' political discourses) has a lot of the same issues. Not that this format can fix that, but I am sure that longer form responses won't make the whole thing worse. Like I said, I really need to explore past this page first.

Thanks, Santagati. Facilitating discussions is one of the main goals of Branch. I'm very excited about the ability to embed branches on websites. (ex: readwriteweb.com). I've long fallen out of favor with using native blog comments. But this may be better than Disqus.

Yeah, Branch seems to take some of the best ideas of storify and makes them core to discussions. I've been thinking a lot about this this week having read several articles about the impermanence of social media data.

Obvious seems to building a new, social media trifecta in which (fleeting) real-time Twitter updates can feed into (longer-lasting) Branch discussions around (semi/permanent) Medium micro-posts. medium.com

Having played with it a little I don't really love that I can't comment on topics without asking to join. It's a pain in the ass and I don't understand it. What are the benefits of that? I can see why you might choose to lock a discussion, but I appreciate spaces that are by default open, with fences being added only as necessary.

I agree. Seems like it would be better to have a choice when creating a branch to leave it open so anyone can participate without having to add them manually. A suggesting for the Feedback box in the bottom right.