No worries — we’re going to keep pumping out new releases of Flock with cool features. And of course, it’ll stay open source and free.

Greg Fisher

So please stop asking for invites

There is a signup form @ flock.com . The “announcements� mailing list will be used to seed the expanded (private) beta within a couple of weeks.

The Flock browser will be free to take flight within a month!

Adding the option to get an account be receiving an SMS message also sounds like a lame barrier to me. Most of Google’s technologies seem accessible to me. Why not gmail?

Thank you,
Lloyd

We obviously need to publicize this more, but anyone can now get a Gmail account, provided they can receive an SMS message on their (or their friend’s) phone.
https://www.google.com/accounts/SmsMailSignup1

The Google Talk page was updated quite a while back.
http://www.google.com/talk/

Does it artificially increase desire?

Yes, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But it also cultivates a cliquey feeling that could turn potential users off completely (as my friend Doug said today after I teased him: “I’ve been resisting del.icio.us, because a) it seemed absurd at first b) trendy c) I just hate adopting things SECOND. Either I’m there on opening day or, “oh, no, I never really got into THAT place.”)

Does it help services grow organically and cut down on trolls and spam, creating more value for invitees?

Yes.

Does it create more investment from the user community and perhaps establish even minor connections between invitor and invitee?

Yes, a little, to answer the first part of your question, and yes, probably a lot, to answer the second.

Or does it create a false hierarchy around an inner circle of well-connected geeks?

Can’t it do both?

Okay I’m done.