The open source microblogging service StatusNet – the power behind identi.ca – announced today the release of its iPhone app.
The app makes it easy to connect via mobile to a StatusNet site, and it supports posting from an iPhone, sending attachments, as well as following public, profile and friends’ timelines. Users can connect to accounts on multiple StatusNet sites from within the app.
The iPhone app joins the company’s Android and desktop offerings. According to Evan Prodromou, CEO of StatusNet, said, “Our iPhone app is another way that StatusNet users can stay in touch with their network. We hope that this new, free app will make it easier for enterprises, groups and individuals to adopt StatusNet for their microblogging needs.”
Outages with Twitter earlier this year helped increase interest in alternatives. But the appeal of StatusNet isn’t simply that it’s an alternative to Twitter – it’s that it offers an open source, distributed alternative. As former Twitter developer Alex Payne noted in a blog post just last month – the last thing he will ever write about Twitter – that’s a path that Twitter expressly chose not to take.
But it’s one that StatusNet has taken to great success, securing another round of funding earlier this summer in order to expand its enterprise offerings. StatusNet offers a hosted version. But one of the benefits of StatusNet is that organizations can also create their own private networks that function behind company firewalls, important as more people turn to social networking for communications, in addition to or perhaps even replacing email.
