Yeah. As inspiring as it sounds right now, it is not going to work. Your common user is not going to shell out cash for a service like this. It doesn't matter if he won't get ads or if his information won't be sold.
This thing will build up a lot of hype, may probably get funded, but eventually will die out after hackers and tech blogs lose interest. Much like diaspora.
It's not for common users. It's for people who want to pay for this service. Developers will build federation out to Twitter to reach those who don't want to participate.
