The goal seems to be a Twitter/Facebook like service that doesn't have ads.
Personally, I hope it gets funded, because I want to see the effort made.
Here's a nay-sayer blog, and I have to say that I agree - that $50 is a deal-breaker.
I do hope they take some time and think about using/defining open standards. The huge problem with the ad-supported networks is that they are all walled gardens. So, in order to communicate with my friends, I need to have an account on facebook if they are on facebook, on G+ if they are on G+ etc. If we could remedy that, I would be happy. Instead of having to get on every bandwagon in order to communicate, I could stay where I am, set up my own server or switch to the new guy. If we could do that, there would be no vendor lock-in, and paid services would have better chances, because people no longer want to stay where they are because of their friends... I also like that there are open source projects like Diaspora who try to do just this.
Too bad they don't. It makes app.net just another social network with lock in... I think Diaspora did right by making a full blown social network, because that is what is needed. The interface is clean and easy (at least as easy as the facebook interface) and creating an account on a so called pod is easy as pie. And setting up a server is for the ones who have time to spare or whose job it is. It is a bit like owncloud in that respect. You don't have to set up your own server in order to use it, but you could. As for a twitter clone, I don't think that would be viable. If you look at twitter, you see that most of the messages are just updates on someone's life. On facebook, you'll get the occasional creation of stuff (not in my network, but hey, it is possible) and the consequent loss of ownership over that data. The goal of the Diaspora project is freeing that data. I don't think that a twitter clone would have that effect.
It'll never work. The percentage of people willing to pay $50/year on a social network is so small that it will run into the same problems Google+ has, but much much worse [those problems being that, for a social network to be attractive, everyone has to be on it]. Also, for me atleast, it was never the ads that were why I hate Facebook, it was the privacy issue, and the fact that people use it to be attention whores and stalkers.