dalton caldwell

App.net: A social network made possible by Facebook and Twitter

SAN FRANCISCO -- Starting a new social network is a terrible idea, right? Facebook's stock debut has been the worst in history, and even Twitter's growth is slowing.

The problem with this theory is that it entirely fails to explain the early success that Dalton Caldwell, a San Francisco entrepreneur, has enjoyed in launching a would-be rival social network called App.net.

"I'm really burnt out on the rampant cynicism," Caldwell told a standing-room-only crowd of over 200 developers at AirBnB's headquarters here this week. Instead of complaining about other services' flaws, he said, … Read more

App.net: 'Plumbing' for social apps, not Twitter rival (podcast)

App.net founder Dalton Caldwell was impressed by Twitter in its "early days" when third-party developers were using it as a platform to "build really strange and amazing software, which is not what the people at Twitter necessarily intended." At that point, said Caldwell, "they had an open platform and you could build any kind of business on it in."

But, he added, "there's been a number of business moves made by Twitter to restrict third-party access to the data and discourage third-party clients being built." He said Twitter's "… Read more

Building apps for Facebook: A dance with the devil

Dalton Caldwell caused a stir recently when he posted an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, accusing top Facebook execs of threatening his latest startup with the Luca Brasi treatment: Sell out to us or we'll crush you.

"I had explicit approval from Facebook to build what I was building," says Caldwell, a software developer who unexpectedly found himself in the crosshairs because an app he was building to run atop Facebook was similar to Facebook's recently unveiled App Center. "They said, 'Sorry, we just need the revenue.'"

Caldwell's public dust-up with Facebook -- … Read more

MySpace acquired Imeem--now what?

MySpace on Wednesday acquired social-networking site Imeem for an undisclosed sum, but sources with knowledge of the deal say is worth about $8 million.

The News Corp.-owned MySpace has agreed to pay $1 million in cash, but the total figure also includes money for accounts receivable and employee earn outs. Regardless, the price is a big loss for investors who poured upwards of $30 million into the pioneer ad-supported music service.

An Imeem spokesman declined to comment.

Imeem will continue to operate as a standalone site, at least initially, according to the sources. One source said that Imeem's … Read more

Report: MySpace may get Imeem in firesale

Om Malik over at GigaOm advanced the story about MySpace's efforts to acquire Imeem on Wednesday.

The news that Rupert Murdoch's MySpace was in talks to buy Imeem, a long struggling social-networking site focused on music, generated a lot of headlines on Tuesday.

Judging from the glut of media coverage but relatively few reader comments at some of the sites covering the story, this is one of those events that journalists care more about than the public (don't know what it's like at other sites, but MySpace stories don't generate big readership numbers).

Be that … Read more

Will MySpace save Imeem with acquisition?

Multiple sources are reporting that MySpace is in talks to acquire Imeem, the social-networking music service that has struggled with financial problems for some time.

Peter Kafka at All Things Digital is reporting that negotiations are in the late stages and that MySpace is making the deal to acquire some of Imeem's talent and technology. News of the talks was first reported by TechCrunch.

Here's my contribution to the news: two sources with knowledge of Imeem say CEO Dalton Caldwell was in New York recently looking for new investors. Imeem was again running short of cash after coming … Read more